Homemade Protein Peanut Bars

(Recipe inspired by Kind Bars)

Makes: 30 bars

Ingredients

3 cups raw mixed nuts (or you can use only one variety of nut)

4 scoops Beverly Vanilla UMP

½ cup dried cranberries (you can use any dried fruit you prefer)

¼ cup shredded coconut, unsweetened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon each of cinnamon, pumpkin spice, nutmeg (you can use any or all)

1 cup water

Optional

½ cup dark chocolate chips

1 teaspoon coconut oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2. Spray a shallow 9×12 baking dish/pan with a thin coat of non-stick oil
3. In a mixing bowl, add Vanilla UMP and water.  Mix well.
4. Add coconut, spices, vanilla and cranberries.
5. Mix well then set aside
6. In a VitaMix (or other blender) add 3 cups of nuts.  You want to grind the nuts until they are chunky, not powdery or buttery.  I used the VitaMix on 2 and 4 and stirred the nuts well so that the bottom layer did not become too finely ground.
7. Add ground nuts to bowl of UMP and dried fruit.  Stir well.
8. Optional:  at this point you can also choose to add the chocolate chips if you would like them mixed in the bars
9. Spoon the mixture into the baking pan.  Spread evenly until the pan is completely lined with the mixture.
10. Bake for 30 minutes.
11. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 – 30 minutes.
12. Optional:  If you would like a chocolate drizzle you can mix the coconut oil and chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high until they are melted.  Remove from microwave and stir every 30 seconds.  Once melted you can drizzle on top of the bars as they cool.  If you are more sophisticated you can melt the chocolate in a double broiler. 
13. Cut into small pieces or bars.  You can get about 30 squares from this recipe. 

Nutritional Information (from MyFitnessPal, 30 servings) Per Serving: Calories: 107, Protein: 5, Carbs: 6, Fat: 8, Fiber: 1, Sodium: 22

NOTES

• I refrigerate my bars since there are no preservatives.  This is the first time I have made this recipe so I don’t know how long they keep.If you have a sweet tooth, you may not like these bars.  You can use honey, agave or a sweetener of your choice if you would like to add some additional flavor.
• The bars will be about ¼ inch tall with the recipe above.  At 30 minutes in the oven the top was just lightly brown.
• They are not crunchy but they are not soft either.