Pretend Pegan Protein Bars (Chocolate Lava)
Description
Dense, chocolatey protein bars made with cocoa, sunflower seed butter, and plain protein powder. They start soft and pliable, become firmer with storage, and can be briefly warmed for a softer texture.
Yield: 3 servings of 2 pucks each, totaling 6 pucks ✎
Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cool Time: 20 minutes
Equipment required: microwave (or stovetop - see note)
Storage: at room temperature for 7 days. See note about change in texture over time. If stacking in a storage container, separate with pieces of parchment to prevent pucks from sticking together. ✎
Ingredients
Instructions
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Put the allulose, water, vanilla extract, and salt in a small microwave-safe mixing bowl. Microwave for 45 seconds. Pause to whisk after 20ish seconds. Monitor to make sure it doesn't bubble over. The contents of the bowl will be scalding hot, so be careful. Transfer to the fridge to cool for 5 to 10 minutes. See note regarding stovetop method.
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Add the sunflower seed butter and syrup to the allulose mixture and whisk until smooth.
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Add the cocoa powder and protein powder and mix with a stiff silicone spatula or spoon until no dry patches remain. The dough will be quite thick.
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Form the dough into 6 pucks (35g each) about ⅜-inch (1cm) thick. I use a 2⅜-inch (6cm) ring mold and pusher for this. You can also form 3 bars (70g each), or form one large square or rectangle and cut it into 3 or 6 bars. You can use your hands or a rolling pin for this.
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Place the pucks on a flat tray, pan, or cutting board and allow to cool and set for about 20 minutes. See note about changes in texture over time.
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Enjoy at room temperature or breifly heated in the microwave (about 10 seconds).
Used to Make This Recipe
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Nutrition Facts
Servings 3
Serving Size 2 Pucks
- Amount Per Serving
- Calories 250kcal
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat 14g22%
- Total Carbohydrate 29g10%
- Dietary Fiber 10g40%
- Protein 20g40%
- Allulose 16g
- Net Carbs 3g
* Total Carbs - (Fiber + Allulose + Sugar Alcohols) = Net Carbs
Notes
- Feel free to double, triple, or quadruple the recipe if you find you like these bars and will eat them often. However, I suggest making a single batch the first time around as you might find they are too protein powdery for your tastes. Also, the texture will change over time, which is explained in the following bullet point.
- I have not made allulose syrup on the stovetop, but I have no reason to believe that it wouldn't work. If doing so, I'd place the ingredients in a very small spacepan, melt and bring to a simmer on medium heat, reduce to low, and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Monitor carefully and adjust heat as needed to prevent burning.
- Allulose melts into a syrup, but then over time, it returns to its hardened form. What this means here is that your pucks/bars will start out quite soft and pliable (more pliable than a typical protein bar) and become firmer over time. I initially made these bars without any storebought syrup (only the microwave allulose mixture) and they became quite hard and dry after 2-3 days. The addition of the thick syrup keeps them pliable. However, this also means they start off seeming a little overly soft for a "bar" and become progressively more bar textured depending on how long they are stored. After a number of days, they do become rather dry, but 10 seconds in the microwave softens them up some. Too long in the microwave will dry them out and make them taste burnt. Only microwave them when ready to eat because they will dry out as they cool. See more about the sweeteners used in the following 2 bullet points.
- I have tried making this recipe with erythritol-based granulated sweetener and it did not work out at all. The result was just a bowl full of powdery crumble. I'm unsure if is would work with BochaSweet or xylitol. It definitely would not work with pure monk fruit or stevia. If you try the recipe with BochaSweet or xylitol, please let us know. I plan to try the recipe with other sweeteners/syrups in the future and will update this recipe page as needed.
- For syrup, I am using ChocZero maple syrup, which is very thick and contains no water in the ingredient list. The main ingredient is resistant dextrin. The original Julian Bakery bars contain soluble tapioca fiber, which is a resistant dextrin syrup. I can't get soluble tapioca fiber where I live and so was not able to try it in this recipe and the ChocZero syrup is my chosen alternative. Some keto syrups are very watery and I don't know how this would impact the recipe, or the texture after a few days of storage.
- The original Julian Bakery bars use sunflower seed butter. Sunflower seed butter, or the brand Sunbutter specifically, is very low in net carbs and high in protein. I have not tried this recipe with other nut/seed butters, but I suspect it would work out fine. In other recipes, I have found that peanut butter has the most similar cosistency and structural qualities to Sunbutter, whereas almond butter tends to be stickier and tanini thinner.
- I have made this recipe with both sacha inchi powder (this was in the original bars) and plain pea protein powder. The sacha inchi powder is a bit nicer in flavor, but it is also much more expensive and higher in carbs (depending on your protein powder). Macros are calculated with protein powder. I think defatted peanut flour (aka peanut butter powder) would also be tasty in this recipe. However, using this would also impact the macros. Flavored protein powder could be used, but for my taste, this would make for extremely sweet bars.
- The pictured bars were a first attempt without any syrup and their drier looking texture is a result of this. With the syrup the bars are smoother, shinnier, and darker than the ones pictured. The ones in the instructions with the ring mold are the recipe here, with syrup used.
