Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Protein Bars

I have recently returned to working out and I am starving all the time! I realized I wasn't getting enough protein to keep up with my bodies demands so I went to the store and bought some of my old favorite protein bars. Not only were they expensive but they were not something I would give to the kid because of the ingredients. I made the mistake of trying to eat one in front of him and it didn't end well. 

So off to the Internet I went for a good protein bar recipe that was simple, used ingredients I had on hand (or close substitutions) and weren't a ton of calories. I couldn't find one. I found lots of good looking recipes with tons of ingredients but nothing I could throw together quickly. I also am not a fan of really sweet things, if you are you may want to use chocolate chips instead of cacao nibs and I'm willing to be these would be good dipped in chocolate and eaten frozen. 

Makes 10 bars

1 1/4 C Plain Pea Protein

1 C Unsweetened Almond Milk

1 Ripe Banana

30 drops Vanilla Creme Stevia

1/2 C All Natural Peanut Butter

1/8 C Cacao Nibs or Chocolate Chips

In a large bowl I mixed the protein powder and the almond milk into a thick paste, then I added the banana and the stevia.

Next I mixed in the peanut butter and the cacao nibs. I mixed this until it started to pull away from the sides of the bowl and it resembles cookie dough.

Then I lined an 8x8 pan with parchment paper and smoothed the dough into pan.

Pop it into the fridge and let chill for 2 hours. When bars have set up but are still soft, pull the parchment paper and bars out of the pan and set on the cutting board.

You want the bars to be soft enough to cut but set up enough that they hold their shape. I cut the bars in half down the center and into as close as 5 equal bars on each side as I could.

The facts as entered into My Fitness Pal:

177 Calories, 8 grams of fat, 17 grams of protein

If you use chocolate chips the calories will be higher.