Healthy snacks for people on the go

This lovely little oddity comes to us courtesy of a food co-op in Madison, Wisconsin some 30 years ago, along with the slogan, “Power to the Beeple”. My sweetie told me about these “beeple bars”, and with a little experimenting, we reinvented the recipe. It’s basically a nut and protein bar with protein powder, honey and lecithin to bind it together. There are endless variations on a theme, some with more or less sweetener. If you want to go with peanut butter, no-salt peanut butter is best, especially the grind-your-own from PCC, Whole Foods or your local co-op grocer.

Ingredients

• Nut butter – peanut, almond, macadamia
• Whey protein powder
• Cocoa powder, and maybe some chocolate chips
• Binding agent – honey, lecithin (not sweet), molasses or agave syrup (lower sugar)
• Optional – dried fruit, coconut flakes (unsweetened)

Making

• Blend the  nut butter with honey and lecithin
• Add WPI protein powder (chocolate flavored is good, or plain), and cocoa.

Use your hands to smooth it all together . It’s all kinds of messy and gooey, but by hand is the best way to mix all the ingredients. Keep mixing until it has the texture of a moist dough, all stuck together.

Tips

• If it’s too dry, add more lecithin
• If it’s too moist, add more protein powder

Finishing touches

• Take the ‘dough’, make a one inch ball, roll it in coconut and refrigerate.
• Roll out a bar, add some raisons, wrap in wax paper or foil, keep in the refrigerator until ready to add to your day pack.

Variations

• Add chocolate chips
• For a desert treat, dip in chocolate
• For some ‘snap’ add rice crispies
• I particularly like blending a couple of nut butters together like peanut butter/almond butter or macadamia/pecan

These snacks are tasty and nutritious, and best of all, you know all the ingredients that went into them.