Carob Oat Protein Bars
This is sort of funny that almost everything I had been putting in my homemade granola bars, are food sensitivities for myself! One of the reason I started making homemade bars was because of Dear Husband's (DH) food issues. It seems we have sort of opposite issues when it comes to this however I still need to make some for him as well as experiment with various combinations for all of my Leap patients. These could be no-bake, however I did bake them for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Most went in the freezer, but they turned out delicious!
This batch made about 24 bars, see the full nutrition info below.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups quick cooking oats (toasted)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup carob powder
- 1/3 cup dried currants
- 1 medium ripe banana
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup nut butter
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1 cup Bob's Red Mill TVP (textured vegetable protein)
Directions:
- Mix dry ingredients in large mixing bowl; stir to combine.
- Take 3/4 dry mixture with currants and pulse in food processor to make a finer product.
- Mix nut butter and honey over low heat in small saucepan to combine.
- Pour nut butter and honey mixture over dry ingredients.
- Smash up banana with a fork, add this and applesauce to mixture.*
*Watch for your final mixture to have enough moisture. You may need a little more/less banana applesauce depending on how much nut butter and honey you use. You can certainly use another sweetener like maple or agave and your choice of nut butter. Just make sure none of the dry ingredients remain dry.
Spray a 9x13 glass baking dish with canola spray (you can also line with aluminum foil and spray this as well). Spread mixture into pan and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.
Let cool completely and then cut into bars. Keep some to eat right away or make extra and freeze them!
Nutrition Information per bar:
Calories: 129
Total Fat: 3 gm
Carbohydrates: 22 gm
Protein: 5 gm
If you need a more substantial snack, put some PB2 on your bar or eat two for 10 grams of protein!