Description
If you love pumpkin spice lattes, you’ll love these homemade protein energy bars made with pumpkin, spices, vanilla protein and coffee!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (225 g) raw almonds
- 1 1/2 cups (140 g) fine or medium unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 1/2 cups (300 g) lightly packed, soft pitted dates
- 1/2 cup (45 g) ground coffee
- 1 scoop (30 g) vegan vanilla protein powder
- 2/3 cup (150 g) canned pumpkin puree
- 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice (or 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 ginger, 1/4 tsp each nutmeg, cloves and allspice)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp sea salt, optional
Instructions
- Add the almonds, coconut and pumpkin pie spice (or spice mix) to a food processor and process into a coarse grainy flour. Some large chunks of almonds left behind are ok.
- Add the dates and process into a crumbly but sticky mixture.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and process into a thick, sticky dough you can easily press together between your fingers. You may need to stop a number of times to scrape down the sides. Note that will require a fairly powerful food processor as it’s a lot of volume, if concerned, transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and mix by hand.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until it forms a thick dough.
- Line a 7-9 inch square baking pan with parchment paper so the edges of the parchment stick out over the sides of the pan.
- Transfer the dough to the pan and use your hands to firmly press the dough into the pan until flat and smooth on top then place the entire pan in the freeze for 1 hour to firm (can probably get away with 30 minutes if needed).
- Use the edges of the parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan then slice into 16 bars or squares.
Notes
Dates: Be sure to use soft, moist dates. If your dates are overly dry, soak them in hot water for 15 minutes then drain well before using.
Storage: Store the bars in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freezer for up to 3 months. They’re okay at room temperature for 1-2 days if needed, keep cool if possible.
Caffeine: Be sure to use decaf coffee if you’re sensitive to caffeine or would like to enjoy these later in the day.
Serving Size: I like to cut these into 16 bars then cut those in half for 32 bite-sized treats. You can always have 2 (or 3) if you want to!
Baking Pan Size: My baking pan is on the smaller-size, so my bars come out very thick. Totally fine to use up to a 9-inch pan, your bars will just be thinner.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 205
- Fat: 13 g
- Carbohydrates: 20 g
- Protein: 6 g