A grab-and-go nutritious snack can save your whole day! These tasty fruit-nut bars are bursting with crunchy freshness, huge flavor, and high-protein superfoods that commercial energy bars can’t touch. Pack them for a hike! I made a big 9 x 13 pan so I could freeze leftovers. If you do that, take a few bars out of the freezer the night before, heat them briefly the next day for a healthy breakfast or snack. These are gluten-free and grain-free, made with low-sugar apples. And since there’s no dried fruit, these bars won’t spike blood sugar or cause weight gain, if you use one of the suggested non-glycemic sweeteners.
Trail Mix is always better with chocolate chips. But chocolate chips are loaded with sugar. Even so-called “healthy” dark chocolate chips are 50% to 75% cacao, which means they’re 25% to 50% sugar. Eeek! That’s a huge problem because all sugars destabilize the body metabolism, which is an invitation to disease. Look for Pascha 100% Cacao Organic Dark Chocolate Baking Chips Unsweetened, available in healthy groceries or online at Vitacost.com. The Paleo diet is sugar-free, and so are Pascha 100% chocolate chips. Yay! Yield: a 9 x 13-inch pan, 24 to 30 bars depending on how you cut them.
Ingredients
- 1 low-sugar apple such as Fuji or Pink Lady, cored and coarsely cut
- 2 cups nuts such as almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, hemp nuts, and/or pumpkin seeds, soaked and toasted if possible (See All About Nuts)
- 4 large eggs at room temperature if possible (See Egg Buyers Beware)
- 2-inches ginger root, diced
- Zest of one organic orange, finely grated
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon maple flavoring
- 1 cup cooked pulp of pumpkin, squash or sweet potato, well drained (c. 230 grams)
- 3/4 cup (170 grams) coconut butter or almond butter, or mixed.
- 1 cup sweetener to taste such as Just Like Sugar Table Top natural chicory root sweetener, or Just Like Sugar Brown natural chicory root sweetener, or 1/4 cup PureLo Lo Han Sweetener by Swanson, or 1 cup raw honey, or your favorite sweetener.
- 1 cup almond meal or leftover solid nut milk pulp, well squeezed.
- 1/2 cup your favorite protein powder
- 1/2 teaspoon unprocessed salt
- 2 tablespoons Pumpkin Pie Spice (Or 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon, 2 teaspoons cardamon, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/4 teaspoon cloves)
- 1/2 cup Pascha 100% Cacao Organic Dark Chocolate Baking Chips Unsweetened
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F. Line a 9 x 13 baking dish with parchment paper so it hangs over the sides like handles. I secure it with photo clips.
- In a food processor, pulse the apples and nuts BRIEFLY into coarse chunks. You want the pieces large, not mush, for a nice crunchy texture. Empty the processor contents into a bowl and set aside.
- Add to the empty food processor the eggs, ginger, orange zest, vanilla, maple, pumpkin (or squash or sweet potato), coconut or almond butter, and sweetener. Process until completely liquified and smooth.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients: almond meal and/or nut milk pulp, protein powder, salt, spices, and chocolate chips. Add the wet ingredients and the fruit-nut filling to the mixing bowl. Mix briefly by hand, spoon into the baking pan.
- Bake 35 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack 30 minutes. I suggest chilling them in the pan for 1 hour so they cut cleaner without crumbling. Enjoy!
3 Replies to "High-Protein Pumpkin Trail Mix Bars"
California Girl May 31, 2023 (2:10 am)
Thank you!
Jane Barthelemy May 30, 2023 (7:02 am)
Hi California Girl, Thanks for your comment. Yes, a really fun recipe. Just make sure your nut milk pulp is very well squeezed. Eyeball the mixture before you bake, to see if it will solidify into bars in baking. If it’s too wet, add a bit more protein powder. (Not an exact science, but it will work fine and they’ll be delicious!) Best wishes for your delicious health! Jane
California Girl May 30, 2023 (12:20 am)
Hello!
This looks like a great recipe. I was wondering, if I use nut milk pulp instead of almond meal, do I need to dehydrate it first, or can I incorporate the pulp into the recipe right after I make the nut milk? (i.e. while it is still kind of wet / damp.)
Since the nut milk pulp was listed as a “dry” ingredient, I just wanted to confirm.