Food/Protein Health Bars - Homemade

[damar2000]

I am doing some weights and fitness at the moment and I wanted some healthy cheap protein bars as the ones you get from the shop are expensive and full of whey protein which isn't generally good for you. So here was my experiment (I used to be a chef so I wasn't accurate on measurements - I just threw it in!)

A couple of handfuls of mixed nuts - pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts.
A couple of handfuls of organic porridge oats
Three heaped tablespoons of organic peanut butter
Three heaped tablespoons of organic honey
Two tablespoons of hot chocolate powder
Two tablespoons of milk powder
A sprinkling of cinammon
1 organic egg
Some chopped dried bananas
A handful of sultanas
A couple of cups of water just to get a nice thick lumpy consistency that can be shaped
1 bar green and blacks dark chocolate (optional)

I blitzed the oats and nuts so they were fairly coursely ground in a blender
Add the banana bits, milk powder, cocoa powder, sultanas and cinammon (basically all the dried ingredients) in a bowl and mix.
Add the honey, peanut butter and egg and mix.
At this point it will be a bit thick and dry so just add a bit of water to soften it a bit so that you still have a thick mixture that can be shaped but not too wet.
Shape into a slab on a baking tray and bake in the oven at about 150-180 for 25-30 minutes or until browned on the outside and hot in the middle - test with a knife.
Cut into 12-14 or so bars.

Optional - melt the chocolate with a spoonful of honey and a small knob of butter in the microwave (carefully - 5-10 second blasts until melted) and dip the tops of each bar in when cool.
Refridgerate
Eat - but not all at once.

I got 14 bars about 100g each. It took about 20 minutes to knock all the ingredients together and then cook. An hours work in all so very quick and while baking I cleaned up the mess I had made!!
For a first attempt they are actually delicious. They are heavy solid and tasty and much better value than anything you can buy given the healthy ingredients. I've increased the honey a bit in the recipe because the ones I made needed sweetening slightly although the chocolate helped.
They are very healthy food/protein bars with loads of protein, carbs and essential fats - a little high in cholestral but depending on your point of view some natural cholestral in your diet is good. There should be about 15-20g protein per bar.

I don't know how much they cost as I already had the ingredients in but I would estimate about 30p-50p per bar. The chocolate alone was £2.40 so you could cut the cost by using cheap chocolate or none at all.
The average price of a 70g health food and protein bar from the shop is about £2 each!!

[scoobie]

Nice! Thanks for that, I'll have to give this a go... the protein bars at my gym cost a fortune!

[itsybitsy]

Nice! Thanks for that, I'll have to give this a go... the protein bars at my gym cost a fortune!

Yeah! £2.00 each at the one I go to!