I Made Homemade Almond Butter and Protein Bars!

This weekend I got it in my head that it was a great idea to make homemade protein bars. I love to bake, how hard can it be to make protein bars, right? ;P

First step for me was to find a recipe that I liked. There was no way I was gonna fly solo and make this up on my own! Lucky me, I remembered that a Facebook friend posted a link for homemade protein bars, score!

Second step, I made a trip to one of my favorite stores - Wegmans! The recipe called for lots of hard to find products which usually you would need to go to a speciality store for or order online, but I got it all from Wegmans. Granted, I walked around the store for about an hour looking for everything because even the associates working there weren't very helpful during this trip... But I got what I needed!

Third step, started the recipe! So I pulled out my food processor to make almond butter. Darn it if my $200 KitchenAid food processor that I only used twice wouldn't work. The lights came on, but clearly the motor was telling me it didn't think so :(

Back to the second step, I went to Walmart to get a cheapo food processor. I bought a $19 ninja.

Finally I get to start the the first recipe! I fired up my ninja and made my almond butter. At first I thought maybe I was doing something wrong because it got really doughy and was very compact. But then all of the sudden, tada it started to liquefy! Yay me!

Next the second receipe, the protein bars, my Piece de resistance! These were actually much easier to make than I expected. First I ground my oats in the ninja per the recipe below. I gathered all my ingredients and I used my handy KitchenAid stand mixer which, thank all that is good above still works (I would have some serious issues if it didn't as we just got that sucker for a wedding gift last year!) to mix everything together. Once that was done and everything was in a "cookie dough" consistency I poured it in my parchment lined brownie pan and into the refrigerator it went overnight! See pictures below, but I think it all turned out pretty well and they taste super yummy!

Raw Almond Butter:

Receipe from Chockohlawtay

(makes about 1.5 cups)

   3 cups Raw, unsalted Almonds

Directions:
1.  Add the almonds to a food processor and pulse to chop.
2.  Blend the chopped almonds for about 10-15 minutes, scraping the sides when necessary.
3.  Add salt or stevia/sweetener to taste (I didn't, but it all depends on taste) and scoop/pour into a pretty sealable jar.  Store tightly sealed in the fridge.


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Bars 
[no bake, low sugar, high fiber/protein]
Receipe from Chockohlawtay
(makes 10 bars) *mine made 12, it's all in how you cut them*

   144g (1+1/2 cups) Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
   128g (1/2 cup) Raw Almond Butter
   1 cup + 3 tbs Unsweetened Almond Milk
   10 packets Truvia (or sweetener of choice)
   1/2 tsp Stevia Extract
   1/2 tsp Butter Extract
   1/4 tsp Salt
   40g (1/4 cup) Brown Rice Flour
   168g (8 scoops) Unflavored Brown Rice Protein Powder
   1/3 cup Mini Dark Chocolate Chips

Directions:
1.  Line a 9*13" brownie pan with parchment paper both ways and set aside.
2.  Blend the oats into a flour and set aside.
3.  In a large stand mixer bowl, add the almond butter and almond milk and stir
4.  While the mixer is still mixing, add the Truvia, stevia, butter extract and salt.
5.  Still mixing, add the brown rice flour and oat flour.  Add the protein powder (dough should be thick like cookie dough)
6.  Take the bowl off the stand mixer and fold in the chocolate chips.  Dump into the prepared pan and flatten with the spatula (or if you're fancy, a pastry roller).  Cover and refrigerate overnight.
7.  The next day, slice into bars and store covered in the fridge.

Where can you/ find these Ingredients?
I was able to find all of the ingredients at Wegmans or if you want to order online you can go through the links on Jessica's blog.

Have you made almond butter or protein bars before? Where did you get your recipe?