No-Bake Cookie Dough Protein Bars

By á-160800

Ingredients

• 8-inch square baking pan, lined with foil or parchment and then sprayed with nonstick cooking spray
• 1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking rolled oats (GF, if needed)
• 1-1/3 cups plain nondairy milk (e.g. almond, rice, soy, hemp) or low-fat milk
• 1/2 cup natural, unsweetened nut or seed butter (e.g., peanut, cashew, sunflower)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (GF, if needed)
• 1-1/3 cups packed all-natural sweetened raw vanilla vegan protein powder (I used Sunwarrior)

Details

Preparation time 10mins
Cooking time 10mins
Adapted from powerhungry.com

Preparation

Step 1

Place the oats in a food processor and process into a fine powder.
Add the milk, nut or seed butter and vanilla to the processor bowl. Process, using on/off pulses, until the mixture is blended and smooth, stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl once or twice with a rubber spatula.
Add the protein powder to bowl; process using on/off pulses until all of the protein powder is incorporated, stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl once or twice with a rubber spatula.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan. Place a large piece of parchment paper, wax paper or plastic wrap (coated with nonstick cooking spray) atop bar mixture and use it to spread and flatten the bars evenly in the pan. Cover and refrigerate overnight until very firm.
Using the liner, lift the mixture from the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Peel off the foil or parchment and cut into 10 bars.

Notes
*Storage: Individually and tightly wrap the bars in plastic wrap. Store the bars in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Alternatively, place the wrapped bars in an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. Let the frozen bars thaw at room temperature for about 1 hour.
*Consider topping the bars with a bit of melted bittersweet melted chocolate, as I did with these bars.
*Whey protein will not work in this recipe as written; the bars will have a gooey, sticky texture that will not hold together in bar form. But the problem is easily solved: simply increase the total amount of oats to 2 cups and reduce the amount of milk to ½ cup.
*You can form into any size or shape that suits your fancy, from balls to rounds to free-form mini bars.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1 bar Calories: 195 Fat: 10 g Carbohydrates: 10 g Protein: 19 g