Almond-Chocolate Protein Bars.

Being a pretty active person I have to say I spend a lot of money on protein bars. Well, I should say USED TO because I found a great recipe to make them at home for 5 bucks a pan rather than 5 bucks for 2 bars with an ingredient list longer than my arm. I found this recipe here on Georgie's website. Go check it out, it's a great website with nice recipes, a lot of info about nutrition and all health related stuff!
Anyway. So as I mentionned a few posts ago, there's a big meet this week-end, out of town, so I'm planning ahead and bringing a lot of baked goods, for me and my teammates. I wonder if I can bribe the timers and judges too...? Hehe...Probably not...



Ok, so I made 2 batches of these bars, one like the original with peanut butter, and the other one I tweaked it and made it all almond. Both chocolate because I used chocolate protein powder, but I'm sure they would work with vanilla or something else. They both turned out very nice. The peanut butter one looked exactly like the original(how often does THAT happen?), and my tweaked-out version looks like a fancy chocolate dessert!



The great thing with these too is that you can freeze them and pop them in a micro-wave for 30sec after a work-out and it's good to go. Portions also may vary, I cut them into 10 bars per pan, since I want to share(!) but also for between swimming races it needs to stay "lighter"...
So, here's the recipe, I urge you all to try and make them them, it's easy and so delicious, taste almost like cake, but packed with protein and healthy fats.
Go to Georgie's site for the "original", and here's my different kinda version:

1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk
1/4 cup egg whites(you can buy egg whites in a carton at the store. great for omelettes to have on hand!)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

1/3 cup chocolate WHEY protein powder(no soy, please...there's alredy soy milk in here!)
1/2 cup granulated white sugar(or Splenda, if you have it...)
1/4 milled flax seeds
1 TBSP whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 TBSP ground almonds
1 TBSP cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

6 TBSP almond butter
1/2 cup sliced almonds, preferably(but not necessary)toasted.

-Oven on at 350F, oil spray an 8in square pan.
-Heat oats and soymilk in microwave for 60secs. Let it cool a bit.
-Meanwhile, mix whey protein, sugar, flax mill, flour and almond mill, coco powder, baking powder and salt.
-Now the oatmeal mix should be cool enough, mix in the egg whites, vanilla and almond extract.
-Pour the wet in the dry and mix until combined but don't overmix.
-Spoon the almond butter over and spread it around with a fork.
-Sprinkle the sliced almonds on top.
-Bake for 10 minutes, the centre will still be a little jiggly but they will firm as they cool.
*Once they completely cooled, sliced and wrap in plastic to preserve freshness. Plus, it's practical to just grab out of the fridge/freezer and bring to the gym/pool for later...

Thanx again Georgie for this amazing recipe! They will now be on my weekly baking list for sure!