Peanut Butter-Maple Protein Bars

Nicolette Stramara

by | Updated: December 4th, 2016

All it takes is that one tempting snack to steal your heart. For some, it’s a bag of lightly salted popcorn. For others, it’s bite-sized, chocolate-coated candies. I happen to be head over heels for the simplicity of Vitacost Organic Smooth & Unsalted Peanut Butter. A spoon is all I really need. But when my body craves something more substantial, these protein bars have all that and a bag of (peanut butter) chips!

Homemade Peanut Butter Protein Bars Recipe

Peanut Butter-Maple Protein Bars

Makes 16 square bars
Macros per bar:  85 calories | 12.1 g carbs | 3.8 g protein | 3.2 g fat | 1.4 g fiber

Ingredients

1/3 cup Vitacost Organic Smooth & Unsalted Peanut Butter
2 egg whites
3 Tbsp. almond milk (or milk of choice)
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
¼ cup pure maple syrup
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour
½ cup Vitacost Peanut Butter SLIM™ Powdered Peanut Butter
1 scoop ARO Vanilla Whey Protein Complex Plus
¼ cup Vitacost Xylitol
1 tsp. baking powder
Peanut butter chips (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9” x 9” baking dish with parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl, combine peanut butter, egg whites, almond milk, yogurt and maple syrup, stirring until smooth.
  3. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well combined.
  4. Pour batter into prepared baking dish, top with peanut butter chips and bake approximately 14-16 minutes.
  5. Let cool about 10 minutes, cut into 16 even squares and snack your heart out!

Note: Since these are bars, they will not be very thick. However, you can bake these in an 8” x 8” baking dish to make thicker bars – just increase the cooking time by a few minutes.