Oh, life before COVID: come back with me to a time when we traveled for fun. Last winter was a gorgeous one, with epic snowpack and great weather to enjoy it. We got up to Colorado several times to snowboard and ski before the pandemic hit. Memories from trips like this–and these AMAZING vegan protein bars–and are sustaining my wanderlust-filled heart for now.

Before heading out to Breckenridge for a ski trip with friends last February, I took half an hour the night before to prep some delicious high protein vegan bars as an experiment. Good thing I brought plenty of extras–they were a hit with all my friends, plant-based preferences or not!

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Below you’ll find a recipe for Vegan Protein Bars: shown above are both the Pumpkin Cranberry and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter variations. They were a lot of fun to decorate with nutritious extras like seeds, nuts, dried fruit and chocolate.

Enjoy, stay safe, and stay healthy!

With love + plants,

Anna

Vegan Protein Bar Base recipe:

• 1 cup regular or thick rolled oats
• 1 tsp cocoa
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 4 scoops Orgain Sweet Vanilla Protein Powder (can use Chocolate as well; other brands I’ve tried with success are LIV Body protein and VIVO life)
• 1 tbsp unsweetened coconut
• 1/8 cup sliced almonds
• 1 tbsp flax meal
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 2 tbsp almond butter or peanut butter
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond or soy milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

Makes 6 big bars with 20g protein each

1. In the microwave, briefly heat together the nut butter, almond milk and vanilla to melt.
2. In a bowl, mix together the rest of the dry ingredients.
3. Pour warm melted ingredients into dry mixture and mix together.
4. Spread out on pan/cookie sheet. Lining the pan with parchment paper makes clean up and cutting really easy.
5. Sprinkle top with unsweetened coconut and additional garnishes of your choice (nuts, chocolate, dried fruit, sprinkles, etc!) and put in freezer for an hour.
6. Move to fridge to store and enjoy!

Variations

• Pumpkin Cranberry:
  • Add 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin, 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice, 1/2 cup of dried sweetened cranberries to dry ingredients.
  • Use almond or cashew butter for the melted base, not peanut butter.
  • Top with a drizzle of melted white chocolate or dark choc and white choc mini chips if you’re feeling fancy. The texture of these is a lot more cakey with more moisture from the pumpkin–so tasty!
• Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter:
  • Add 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips to the dry ingredients.
  • Use an extra 2 tbsp peanut butter in the melted base.
  • Drizzle with peanut butter icing (mix together with a fork 1/4 cup peanut butter, 1 tsp soy or almond milk, and 1/3 cup powdered sugar).
• Lemon Blueberry Pie:
  • Add 2 tsp lemon zest to dry ingredients.
  • After finding good-quality dried blueberries that are still squishy, mix 1/2 cup into the dry ingredients as well.
  • Use almond or cashew butter for the melted base, not peanut butter.
  • Top with sliced almonds.