Nutritium

[commodorified]

I am deeply frustrated about energy bars as a rule. I forget to eat. Often. I want something fairly portable that is mostly protein and some fat with just enough carbs to keep me vertical till the rest kicks in, and almost all of the peanut-safe 'energy bars' I can get are nasty sugary things, or else Lara bars, which are okay but really expensive and which have started doing a peanut butter flavour, as practically every healthy, organic, etc etc energy snack I have ever found does sooner or later.

So tonight I made a version of ryda_wong's cookie dough nutrition 'bar', and it does indeed taste very like cookie dough, though we are now referring to it around here as Nutritium, on account of its density and capacity for releasing energy.

I tried a very small (about 6 T total) taster batch of my proposed variant first, ascertained that it was indeed very good, and, flush with success, upscaled... dramatically.

This is what I ended up making:

5 C whey powder, bought in bulk from Herb and Spice.
3.5 C (that's nearly two jars omg) almond-cashew butter
1.5 C blackstrap molasses.
2 C dark semi-sweet chocolate chips.
1 C almond sliced, roasted, skin on.
1 C dried currants.

OI.

My arms gave out before it darkened/moistened up and would roll into balls; I was out of nut butter and didn't want to add any more blackstrap - I was already regretting that last 1/2 C, though in fact it's sort of perfect - so in desperation I finally stuck it in the oven at 150 F for about fifteen minutes while I did the dishes. When I pulled it back out the desired miracle has occurred, and it was beautifully well-mannered.

An ice-cream scoop is about right for measuring out enough for each ball.

I didn't count the balls but I have one very large, very full ziploc of instant energy in my fridge.
It appears to weigh about the same as a duck an anvil.

Comments

[indywind]

Mmm, another home-made powerbar-type-thing recipe. Thanks for sharing, I will look forward to trying these.

[j_v_lynch]

Making a Lara Bar style treat is pretty easy.

take some dates and some almonds and put them in a food processor for a little bit. Adjust the ratio for your preferred level of stickiness. This is perfectly edible and gives you a base that you can expand on by adding cocoa or other dried fruits or nuts.

[commodorified]

Yeah. I don't know as I like them enough to bother; I ate them for years not because I loved them but because they were basically the only non-crap bar I could have, and then they betrayed me...

uh oh

[valancy]

I don't know the story and am terribly sorry to hear they betrayed you, especially as my fiance is allergic to peanuts and so at one time we had quite a quantity of Lara bars in the house for him to take to con. I'm definitely recommending this recipe to him though.

[amorettea]

As a non-nut eater, energy bars and 'healthy' anything are pretty much a no go. EVERYBODY uses some kind of nut to ratchet up the protein. I eat a whole lot of apples as a result.

[commodorified]

I suspect you could do this with whey powder and apple butter/applesauce/dried apple/other fruit.

Would take some experimenting to get a good texture and you might want to add a bit of an oil you like; flax seed maybe?

[amorettea]

I'm told prune butter works well as a fat substitute. You buy prune baby food and use it like applesauce. Never tried it but now I'm thinking I might.

Off-topic, we live in a camalina seed-growing region and they are always testing what to do with it. We had a camalina oil that was a test product, not refined for commercial sale, and it tasted distinctly like asparagus. Great on salad but horrible anywhere else.

[aella_irene]

Mmm. I am going to bookmark this page for when I walk the Five Valleys at the end of September, just to make sure I don't fall over.

[cpolk]

hm! Perhaps I should go about looking for a gluten free whey powder. I've been wanting something portable and nutritious when I'm out on my bike, and this here combined with my concept of Gorp cookies just might be what I'm looking for...