My regular readers know I'm not a big fan of chocolate. Or peanut butter for that matter. I don't hate chocolate or peanut butter, but I don't crave it and would certainly pass it up for something similar in vanilla. However, my husband loves chocolate. And peanut butter. And a typical work day lunch for him involves grabbing a cup of coffee and a high protein, low carb, low sugar bar. The thing is, they are so expensive!
Last winter (or spring?) I started to collect recipes and idea's for a homemade version. Then, last week, I did a few trial and errors and tweaking to see if I could come up with something that was similar to the protein bars my husband was buying, tasted good, was portable for him to take to work and yet was low in sugar and carbs. I ended up with one that I think is pretty good and my husband told me to stop 'tweaking' as he likes it just like it is. Not any sweeter, not any more chocolate. Not anything. He said this is it. Since they were ultimately for him anyway, I said "OK" and there you go!
Homemade Atkins Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars
1 3/4 c chocolate protein powder (I use Isopure - link at the bottom of this post)
1/4 c (kind of heaped) peanut flour
2 T cocoa powder
2 T Xylitol or favorite natural sweetener
1 t vanilla extract or powder
1/4 c butter
2/3 c sugar free, natural peanut butter (I used Smuckers*)
1/4 c heavy cream or half and half
1/4 c water
Also:
1/3 c peanut butter (Smuckers*)
1 T butter
2 T cream
2-3 T Splenda or Ideal sweetener
Blend the protein powder, peanut flour, cocoa, vanilla powder and Xylitol in a bowl. In a microwaveable bowl, place the butter and peanut butter and microwave until melted. Stir in the cream and water - and if you are using vanilla extract instead of powder, add it to this bowl. Blend the wet and dry. It seems a bit crumbly at first but use your hands and continue mixing until it starts to bind. You can add 1 teaspoon of cream more if you really need to. Pat and press the mixture into a lined or sprayed 8X8" pan.
Melt the 1/3 c peanut butter and butter in a bowl in the microwave and add the cream and Ideal or Splenda. Spread this over your bars. Refrigerate until the topping sets up then slice into long bars. I get 10 bars from this.
I then wrapped each individually in saran wrap to make them portable and quick to grab. We keep ours in the refrigerator.
*I use Smuckers brand because other brands of 'natural' peanut butter tend to be runny and won't set up well. Be careful not to use a 'spread' because your bars won't set up well and the topping might not set up and stay runny.
Products I used in my recipe;
