Home-made Protein Bars

I got this recipe for home-made protein bars from my trainer before the holidays and finally decided to give it a try. I made a number of tweaks to the recipe, including steel-cut oats instead of the rolled oats the recipe called for which made for a harder chew; rather than prepping yogurt cheese, I mashed up a banana and mixed it with a couple eggs; I used 1 tsp of nutmeg (only because I mistook it for the cinnamon) and because I didn't have a 9"x13" pan, I used an 8" round pan.

The bars - or slices in my case - turned out quite well, despite my not following the last directions precisely because of the late hour.

Not only are these healthy for you, but because of chocolate, they smell awesome when they're baking - you can totally trick yourself into thinking there are chocolate cookies in the oven!

Ingredients
1 cup whey protein powder
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup oat bran
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup Agave nectar or honey
1 cup dark chocolate
1 1/2 cup yogurt cheese
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tsp extra virgin oil
1 tsp vanilla
cooking spray

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Coat 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and the honey.
3. Stir in the broken pieces of chocolate
4. In another bowl, mix the yogurt cheese, oils and vanilla.
5. Add the yogurt mixture to the dry ingredients and use clean bare hands to combine these well.  Coat hands in olive oil to help prevent sticking.
6. Place mixture in pan and press down evenly.
7. Bake on middle rack in oven for 15 minutes.
8. Let cool and cut dough into bars.
9. Place bars on a Silpat-lined cookie sheet and bake for another 15 minutes.
10. Remove from heat and transfer to wire cooling rack.
Makes 20 to 24.