Homemade Protein Bar

Okay. A little on the dry side and could really taste the protein (not masked very well). Perhaps with some pureed fruit or yogurt?

What a great recipe! I have had this in my cookbook for a long, long time and I finally have gotten around to making it after choosing it for Pick Your Chef Nov. '04. I made these with a few variations as suggested- I used 3/4 cup pureed firm tofu and 3/4 cup yogurt, I substituted kamut flour for the white, wheat bran for the oat bran and used just shy of 1/4 cup canola oil, with about 1 Tbs natural organic peanut butter to top it off and make it the full cup! The soy protein powder I used is called Super-Green (it contains: soy protein isolate, Hawaiian spirulina, natural vanilla flavor, barley grass, psyllium seed husks, apple pectin, oat fiber, chlorophyll, lemon bioflavonoids complex, bromelain, papain, kelp, milk-free Lactobacillus acidophilus and pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B-6)) so my bars really aren't lookers, being green-tinged and all, but they sure taste great! I went with the smaller amount of sugar (1/2 cup) but next time I would use the larger amount- they aren't very sweet really. I completely forgot the salt (oops), but I think they're just fine without them. When I was looking at the recipe, I thought that 3/4 tsp (plus extra because I used tofu ) seems like a lot. Next time I make this, I probably will add a little salt, but probably only 1/8 or 1/4 tsp- we don't like our baked goods terribly salty. I got 16 fair-sized bars from this. I think that this recipe is very nice in that it is very versatile- I think that you could easily substitute all or part of the chocolate chips with dried fruit (I think dried blueberries would be very good!) or nuts, which would make these healthier. I'm sure you could also make these have all sort of great flavors like peanut butter-chocolate (I would probably use peanut butter or peanut oil for the oil, add maybe a Tbs of cocoa, and use 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup peanuts- and maybe chocolate proteing powder!) or maybe apple pie (use vanilla protein powder, up the cinnamon and add some other apple pie spices like maybe cloves or cardamom and substitue the chocolate chips with chopped dried apples.) I was also thinking about subbing some of the oats for some puffed rice for a bit more crispy-crunchiness... Anyhow, this was really easy to make and very inexpensive considering how much you would pay for the same number of bars in a store- as an added plus you control what goes in these, so you can adjust the flavors and ingredients as you like and you don't have to worry about preservatives or any other nasty stuff you don't want to consume. I will definitely make these again- they are a great energy boost for my breaks at work! Thanks WaterMelon, for a real winner!