This is my favorite protein bar with more than 6 g of protein and less than 3 g of sugar per serve. When I run out of my vanilla protein powder, I use chocolate flavored powder to make these protein bytes. If you can’t stand the taste of protein shake like me, give these a go and you’ll have no problem in getting your post workout protein into your body. If not they can be used as a snack, no problem.
Apart from it is high in protein, I have substituted butter with coconut oil and it turned out pretty OK. Chewy and chocolaty and most importantly, it camouflaged the protein powder really well.
This is a law carb protein bar but I call this a brownie, as I altered a regular brownie recipe and it looks a lot like one too. Brownies are very forgiving and so you can play with different fusions or mas-ups. Saying that I’m thinking of a cheese cake brownie that I always wanted to make.
Feel free to add your favorite. I’m using walnuts as it gives a nice texture and is packed full of nutrients. You can use hazelnuts too. Any nut that won’t go soggy when baked is okay. Usually, brownies call for a large amount of butter, and I’m replacing that with pure, extra-virgin coconut oil, because I like the flavor batter. You can of-course use grass-fed butter. I have also replaced some of the eggs with just egg whites. And last, but not least, the chocolate, has to be a good quality dark chocolate. If you use anything more that 70% cocoa, the bitter taste is going to come through. As we don’t add sugar, this might be a bit over powering, but again, if you are fan of bitter chocolate, no problem there!
Experiment with adding other super foods, but be aware of the sugar to protein ratio. Even though we don’t add sugar as is, natural food contain sugar too. Try to keep sugar level down and increase the fiber, to make it low-GI.
These can be kept in an air tight container at room temperature for a day or two in cooler weather, but keep them refrigerated to preserve for longer.
Ingredients
- 125 g coconut oil
- 125 g dark chocolate
- 2 eggs
- 3 egg whites
- 1/2 cup apple sauce
- 1/3 cup plain flour
- 1/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder
- 2 scoops of chocolate flavored protein powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
- A handful of chopped walnuts”
Instructions
- Prepare a brownie pan (9” by ‘9’) by lining it with baking paper
- Preheat oven to 180 C
- Melt dark chocolate and coconut over a double boiler
- Lightly beat eggs and egg whites with vanilla and apple sauce
- Once the chocolate is melted, add the egg mixture followed by the dry ingredients
- Mix until just combined and fold in the nuts, do not over mix as this will make brownies tougher
- Pour into the prepared tin and bake until done for about 20 – 30 minutes
- Top should be completely dry and when pressed lightly, the center should feel soft but not runny
- It will continue to cook and set while its cooling down
- Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into bars/squares
- Refrigerate in an air tight container
2 comments
Hey Vindi, I want to try these but I don’t like protein powders at all. Do you have any suggestions for what can I replace it with and still keep them low carb and high protein? Thank you! I started following you a couple of days back and love your blog already.. hope you make your dream come true sooner.
First of all, thank you very much, I’m glad that you love my blog!
I too hate chocolate flavored protein powder and that is why I sneak it into stuff like this, so I can’t notice the flavor. If you like vanilla protein powder then you can use that. Or replace with an equal amount of almond flour/coconut flour, even potato flour works too if that is an option.