Primal Energy Bar Redux: Making a Better Bar
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When you talk, we listen. You loved the Primal Energy Bar recipe we featured in September, but the comment section lit up with suggestions about how to modify and improve the recipe.
Specifically, you guys wanted to up the protein ante, with commenter Paul recommending adding a few scoops of protein powder, and Anna offering some great suggestions for firming up what was originally a pretty fragile bar (because, lets face it, eating your protein bar with a spoon kind of defeats the purpose!)
So with that, we went to our unofficial Mark’s Daily Apple kitchen to put it to the test! There were a couple of missteps (and even one small toasting incident that could have constituted a fire!) but we think we’ve finally nailed it.
The following is the new and improved official Mark’s Daily Apple Primal Energy Bar:
Primal Energy Bar Recipe:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup almond butter (although cashew, hazelnut, walnut and even pumpkin butters will work well too!)
1/4 cup coconut oil (check your local health food store)
1/4 cup almond meal (simply pulse approximately 1/4 cup of almonds until it creates a coarse flour)
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of raw honey (although, this is really kind of optional because the egg will help hold the mixture together)
1/2 cup unsweetened whey protein powder (or 60g)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries or blueberries
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut to sprinkle on top
Method:
- On a cookie sheet, toast nuts and shredded coconut until golden brown. In order for them to cook evenly, you need to shake up the tray at least once during cooking…trust us!
- Once toasted, pour mixture into a food processor and pulse until nuts are chopped and the mixture becomes coarsely ground (sort of the consistency of bread crumbs).
- In a mixing bowl, melt coconut oil and almond butter (about 30 seconds). Remove from microwave and stir until smooth.
- Add vanilla extract, honey and sea salt. Mix thoroughly.
- Fold in nut mixture, almond meal and protein powder until mixed thoroughly.
- Add whole egg and mix thoroughly.
- Fold in blueberries/cranberries.
- Press mixture into an 8 by 8 loaf pan (a modification that we made to keep everything crisper and help the bars to hold together).
- Cook in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle a ¼ cup of shredded coconut on top and place under broiler until top begins to brown.
- Let cool for 10-15 minutes. Cut into 12 pieces/bars.
- Enjoy or stack on wax paper/parchment and store in an airtight container.
Note: You can also add dark chocolate chips instead of the cranberries/blueberries (available at Whole Foods or health food store). If you add the chips while the mixing bowl is warm (from the coconut oil/almond butter mixture), they will melt into the mixture and you will have yourself a chocolate primal bar. Alternatively, you can just let the mix cool, then add the chips, then refrigerate the pan to get chocolate chip primal bars. The bars stick together pretty well without being cooked.
Nutrition Information:
Nutrition for 1/12 of the batch. Nutritional breakdown courtesy of FitDay.com:
Calories: 184
Fat: 15.4 grams
Carbohydrates: 6.4 grams
Protein: 7.5 grams
And, for those of you who feared they would eat the whole pan… the total nutritional breakdown for the whole darn lot!
Calories: 2,206
Fat: 184.3 grams
Carbohydrates: 77.2 grams
Protein: 90.1 grams
That’s 1659 calories from fat, 309 calories from carbs and 360 calories from protein. Or 72% fat, 14% carbs and 16% protein. A pretty decent Primal balance.
Give ‘em a try and let everyone know what you think in the comment boards!
Further Reading:
10 Delicious DIY Salad Dressings
Subscribe to Mark’s Daily Apple feeds
Posted By: Worker Bee
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Lol! Mark, you weren’t joking. We ended up with almost exactly the same thing independently. Good stuff. Primal minds think alike? Thank you again for re-aligning my perception.
The SoG
I missed the first recipe for these so I’m stoked you put up a new and improved one. I’m definitely going to be making these for those meals on the go.
Wow – sounds pretty easy and very delicious. Definitely want to try this one. Thanks!
Can’t wait to try this. Protein bars are a regular part of my diet, but I’d much rather eat something that tastes like almonds than cardboard.
Look great! Can’t wait to give them a try!
And finally, a Primal use for bread crumbs! As a comparison for sizes to grind your nuts and coconut too.
What are some good options for unsweetened protein powders?
I made 3 batches of the originals… loved ‘em. The only problem I had was that I couldn’t stop eating them!
Past several months i’ve been eating alot of blackberries every day. I think blackberries would go great in this recipe, too.
This recipe is great, i love it!
This looks delicious. A question about measurements – you say that for 1/4 c almond meal you can grind 1/4 c almonds – wouldn’t 1/4 c almonds yield a smaller volume of almond meal? Just making sure the 1/4 cup refers to post-grinding. Thanks!
Yup, looks tasty – Good idea adding the protein powder – that’ll really amp up the recovery -
surplusj – You’re right. It won’t be one for one. It refers to post-grinding. Changes made…
Cheers!
Mmmm. Looks very tasty and relatively simple to make.
Hi Mark.
Thanks for the recipe. One question: is the count given for Net carbs or total carbs? If total, do you know the fiber count?
Mark,
When number crunching in FitDay did you use the measurements as shown, or in grams? I’m becoming a gram-measure nazi, to make sure my “1/2c oats, 40g” isn’t really 57g, et cetera.
If you’d like to lambast me for eating oats and not going fully Primal, feel free. My oats and I can handle it.
It is definitely a good idea to get unsweetened shredded coconut. One time I bought a big bag, and lo and behold it was the sweetest, tastiest thing I ever bought. I was looking at the ingredients after chugging down most of the bag and found it was loaded with added sugar. A real D’oh moment if I may say so.
I made the originals and loved them but they weren’t too firm unless they were straight out of the fridge.
Mark,
Do you think they will ship well? I am heading to Iraq in three weeks and I would love for my wife to send some in a care package. I will be eating as primal as possible there but it will be tough.
Thanks for all the good advice and I plan on reading the blog everyday like I do now, even though I can’t make the meals or control much of what I eat.
Kevin
Kevin,
Good luck brutha! Be safe.
I just made a batch. When baking, a lot of oil came to the top and made it look like it wasn’t cooking properly. I drained off the off, at least a quarter cup, and continued baking — it took about 15 minutes today. The only change I made to th recipe is I used walnut butter rather than almost butter.
I just made some (slightly altered the recipe) and oil came to the top of mine too… I think that’s normal. If you let it cool for 20 minutes or so, the oil soaks back in making them totally moist and yummy.
I would have to change out the pecans (disgusting) and if you aren’t careful just about every whey protein is chalked full of sucralose which destroy’s my stomach anyways.
While a good idea, I will stick to jerky and nuts. Much easier to make.
get dr mercolas pro optimal whey or mircle whey its grass fed and tastes really good. all flavors except the mircle whey – strawberry are great
What would one use if they did not have a micro wave? I moved about three years ago and decided to leave my micro wave and not get a new one. Have not missed it till now.
Can’t wait to try these.
Any ideas where to get dried blueberries or cranberries that don’t have added sugar? I checked the label on both at the store and was surprised to find they were sweetened with cane sugar (or cane juice can’t remember). I had to look far and wide to find unsweetened shredded coconut. It ain’t easy being primal in a added sugar and everything contains grain products world!
no idea… that’s why I’m desperate for a food dehydrator.
Hello,
You can find dried fruit with no added sugars (or anything else for that matter) from justtomatoes.com
They make all types of dried fruits and vegetables and don’t add any oils or sugars. I’ve found them at my local Whole Foods too (the website has a store locator too)
Hope this helps
Dave,
I have not been able to find unsweetened cranberries (the only company that sells them online has a 4 pound minimum!). Believe me, I have looked pretty thoroughly.
As for blueberries, you can find them most anywhere freeze dried. I order mine by the can online from a company called Honeyville Grain (lol I know grain in the name.. ironic right?). They have good almond flour too.
The SoG
Steve,
Re: Unsweetened protein powders.
I actually blogged about this yesterday if you want to check it out. http://trainsmarteatright.blogspot.com/2009/01/are-you-getting-enough.html
Andrea – We just used the FitDay volume measurements. If we used 1/2 cup I put 1/2 cup into FitDay. I hope that answers your question.
Whats the protein count on this if you opt to not use the unsweetened whey powder, or what is a good substitute?
I have no idea where to get unsweetened whey, except for the website above, and I really want to make these tomorrow haha I will probably more than likely order a jug of the custom true protein stuff, but I dont want to wait x amount of buisness days to make it when I can go get all the ingredients besides that on my way home from work tomorrow.
I made them! With modifications as people are wont to do, of course…
Here are my ingredients:
80g toasted ground almonds
50g toasted chopped walnuts
30g toasted ground coconut
50g almond butter
2tsp vanilla
60g whey (mix of choc and plain)
2 omega3 eggs
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
28g freeze dried blueberries
40g chopped dark chocolate
~10 drops liquid stevia
What happened: I followed instructions but only chopped walnuts instead of grinding. Mixing with the extra egg was fine, since I omitted the coconut oil (was afraid of the extra runoff reported above).
What went wrong: oven temp a shade too high (340), and I cooked for about 14 min – too long!
Ended up tasty but a little dry – I would fix the baking time and probably use 3 omega egg yolks instead of 2 whole eggs – I know that egg whites toughen up batters with scary efficiency.
What went right – these taste good! I like the adding of some chocolate as a partial sub for the coconut oil. I would also add a little more stevia for some extra sweetness.
Good luck, ya’ll!
I made them yesterday. They were great but a little crumbly coming out of the pan. I think I’ll add an extra egg next time. I used Agave nectar instead of honey. I also used vanilla protein powder which was all I had on hand. I’ll definitely be making these again!
I made these today, I dont know what I did wrong, but they didnt turn out for me…Ill stick to jerky and trail mix…
Brandon,
If they were too tough (like mine), keep the baking time/temp to 10min and 325 and no more – you’ll be tempted to overbake which does even worse things with these bars than it does to brownies. Turns them into bricks!
If you think you might have overbaked a little, take them directly from the oven to the freezer or a snowbank outside to halt the cooking. On your counter it will keep cooking for at least 5 minutes as it starts to cool….
No, it was taste. Probably the whey powder I used. I tend to fail at primal baking. With the exception of meats, all I can really bake is primal banana bread. Im better at stovetop.
Primal banana bread sounds tasty…got the recipe on hand?
I loved the original recipe, but was definitely excited to try new version to get the added protein. I followed recipe to a T but left out the honey and used Jay Robb vanilla whey powder instead of unsweetened. It came out really dry and crumbly, not moist and sweet like the original
I think I’ll make another batch and cut the baking time in half, see if it helps cuz I really want to make it work!
I tried to make these this morning but they came out super oily and not very tasty. I have to admit, I can’t see myself eating these but feeding them to the squirrels instead.
Any ideas?
I have been using Optimum Nutrition’s 100% Whey Protein – Gold Standard for many years. It seems to have a better taste than most protein powders. Of course I have only used the chocolate so I’m not sure about the other flavors.
Last time I needed to order some I noticed they now have the same powder sweetened with stevia. It’s called 100% Whey Protein – Gold Standard (natural). It’s not very sweet at all. It has a very light but pleasant chocolaty taste. I like to mix it with 3/4 cup of cold water and 1/4 cream for a quick and light low carb breakfast or snack.
Amazon has about the best price I have found.
Matt, ON also makes a variety called “AnyWhey” which is meant for cooking and is completely unflavored/sweetened.
That might be just the ticket here.
FWIW, I find the best prices on most of my supplementy things at LuckyVitamin.
I absolutely love these bars however, they are coming out crumbly and I have to eat them with a spoon. Does anyone have any suggestions to make them more “bar” like?
Thanks
This is a LATE reply but I’ve made this recipe a few times and found that adding an extra egg to the recipe helps it hold together better.
Thanks for the suggestion, EL.
Mark,
My two teen-age boys have been a challenge when it comes to wholesome snacks so I was delighted when I made a batch of your Primal Energy Bar (Redux) yesterday, so tasty I left very little for them and will be doubling up on the recipe in future.
I substituted dried gooseberries for blueberries, added some walnuts & macadamians to the almonds – it solidified nicely and no excess oil as others have previously noted.
These will be added to their school lunches along with the jerky (beef & salmon) I’ve been making for some time.
I’ve yet to try your salsa recipe but I’ve found home-made always vastly superior to the store bought variety – fresh & crunchy springs to mind as a major difference.
Best wishes,
Scott
I’d just like to say that I made this a couple days ago without the egg, protein powder or toasting anything and tried it uncooked and it tasted even better than the cooked version. I now eat it in the mornings as a breakfest along with black tea.
I’ve made these twice now in the past couple of weeks. Good stuff, thanks Mark. I did not use shredded coconut, but I did use coconut oil. My first batch I used a few extra almonds and pecans to make up the difference. The second batch I subbed sunflower seeds which weren’t bad (though they were salted.. just used bagged stuff, not the best). Used a full dose of chocolate whey protein powder instead of unsweetened which gave it a good chocolate kick without using the dark chocolate (although I would have rather gone unsweetened with dark chocolate, probably next time). Everything else I followed the recipe. I did not find it too oily while baking. It’s going to be naturally oily.. hey it’s 72% fat. But nothing drippy or anything. Both batches were very crumbly though. I’d like to find a modification to this that will make a bar that’s well held together so I can carry it with me without a bowl. They’re delicious as a quick and easy snack or small breakfast though!
Mark,
Can you break down the fat content and let us know what of the 15.4g is saturated fat? I know there’s an option on http://www.myfitnesspal.com to get just saturated fat but I’m not familiar with FitDay.
Thanks,
- Jude
Hi Jude,
The saturated fat content per serving (1/12 of the entire batch) is 5.6 grams. The entire batch contains 67.1 grams of saturated fat.
Thanks Worker Bee!
I’m currently on the P90X Fat shedding stage so watching my intake of saturated fat. That’s not too bad at all though =)
Sounds delicious!
I entered all the ingredients into fitday, and came up with wildly different numbers (much higher carbs). Can you post the details, by ingredient, if you have them?
Thanks!
any good substitute for coconut oil?
I know I’m a bit late on the postings, but I tried a batch tonight. I followed the recipe and only came out to about 5 bars…and they didn’t hold together that well. Any advice from those who have already made a batch? At least they taste good!
some ingredients/processes that people might consider:
1. figs. if you food process dried black mission figs, they turn into a paste that’s a good base for mixing other chopped/processed things in — no need for other wet ingredients.
2. oats. in fact, in my first bar experiment (not using the recipe above, sorry, Mark) the fig glop was a bit too wet, so i food processed organic rolled oats into a flour. as these are precooked and dried, they’re fine to eat.
3. quinoa. quinoa is a grain high in protein and rather bland (or easily overpowered by fig), and it doesn’t bulk up the bars much.
process:
1. food processing every ingredient turns the result into less of a crunchy cookie. you really have to like figs, though.
I’ve made these a couple of times – excellent. The first time I made them I sprinkled the coconut on top as per the instructions, but when I brought a couple of pieces for lunch all the coconut fell off. So the last time I mixed the coconut in with everything else and baked for 13 minutes. They turned out great (maybe bake a couple minutes longer next time), and no lost coconut.
This looks fantastic! Wondering what I could substitute for the coconut–one of the few things I REALLY don’t like. I know I can leave it sprinkled off the top, but what about in the mix? Maybe just more nuts? or some steel cut oats as mentioned above? Any suggestions appreciated.
Oh, Mark and anyone else–what do you think of rice bran oil (instead of coconut oil)?
THANKS from a newbie!
I don’t think you’ll really notice the coconut flavor in the bars themselves. A little extra vanilla extract perhaps? They don’t have much of a coconut flavor IMHO.
The almond butter will cover the coconut oil flavor when you mix that together. Oats are a grass and rice is a grain so neither are considered Primal. They are on the list of items to use minimally so if you really don’t like the bars with coconut you could use those substitutes but I would try it with the coconut first.
I made these the other day per the directions, except I didn’t use any protein powder.
They taste good, but, were definitely a little crumbly. After some time in the fridge wrapped in plastic wrap, they did maintain the bar shape. (I used the crumbs like granola and put them in my yogurt. The crumbs could probably be eaten like cereal with raw milk.)
I will make these again, but, with another egg.
I have made a batch of this every week for a couple of months now – great stuff!
I have halved the prep time by doing the following:
-cut out steps 1 & 2 by using more almond flour instead of toasting and grinding the nuts (smash the pecans in a mortar and pestle without toasting
mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl
then add the wet ingredients – only uses 1 bowl.
i also only use 1 scoop of protein powder as I find 2 scoops gives a strange crumbly texture to the bars.
I made a batch of these yesterday and they turned out delicious. I subbed unsweetened raisins for the berries since I couldn’t find any unsweetened cranberries or blueberries. Still just as sweet and tasty in my opinion. I also added a second egg since my mixture looked like it would have been very crumbly.
I wonder if adding fresh and/or frozen berries would work in this. I always have frozen berries on hand. Any thoughts?
I’ve never tried using frozen berries in this recipe, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work – as long as you make sure the berries are well-spaced out. Don’t add too many! Fresh and frozen berries will release a lot of moisture while baking, so too many berries could mean soggy bars.
These look great, thanks for the recipe! If you like coconut, and don’t have whey (or don’t want to use it) you can probably sub out coconut flour for the whey powder.
FYI – I’ve found dried unsweetened blueberries and cranberries at Trader Joe’s. I’m sure any co-op or health food store would have them also.
Many thanks to all who posted before me — your advice was invaluable. Very delicious. My modifications:
* used two medium eggs
* Trader Joe’s crunchy unsalted almond butter
* put toasted nuts/coconut in a plastic bag and crushed to large chunks
They held together well and have a satisfying crunch to them. Made one batch with freeze-dried blueberries (and found them rather bland). Made the second batch with the dark chocolate chips & chocolate whey powder. Addictive little suckers!
I cannot eat dairy (casein intolerant, and gluten also). Do you think it would have the same texture with powdered egg protein instead of whey? Vitol brand looks great and I’m thinking of trying it in this. Thanks!
i just discovered this site a couple of days ago, and i’ve spending a lot of time since then, reading.
i’ve had weight issues all my life (not very severe, but persistent), but after i found out about low-carb eating from Atkins, i’ve been a believer. i feel SO much better, it’s a revelation.
i was wondering what you all think about hemp protein powder?
I just made these tonight, and wow, I suspect they’ll be a lifesaver!
I halved the protein powder, and since I didn’t have a loaf pan, I used my silicone muffin “tins”, and divided the dough into 12, pressing it into the bottom of each well. Has anyone tried this yet? They are nice and crisp around the edges- I can eat them like a cookie, they stick together really well.
I made these yesterday, and although they are delicious, I would make a few adjustments. First, I would decrease the coconut oil to 1/8 of a cup because of the amount of nut butter. I think they are a little on the oily side. Like others, I would add an extra egg for binding. An additional step to take after the bars have cooled, and before cutting them is to place them in the freezer for about 20 minutes; then cut them into 18 small, rectangles. These are very rich, so a little goes a long way. Store the bars covered in the freezer. Because of the high oil content, they thaw quickly. I purchased the bulk unsweetened whey protein isolate and the unsweetened/ unsulphured dried berries at Trader Joe’s. I just ate one of these and I’m going back for a second
Curious what the average cost per batch/bar might come to on something like this. I absolutely love the Pro Bar (theprobar.com, Art’s Original Blend) but at $3+ per bar, I’d rather make my own.
I made 3 pans of these last night but did some major modifications. Instead of almonds and pecans, I’m allergic, I used Alton Brown’s cashew butter recipe for the butter part. I then substituted 1 cup of whole cashews, 1/2 cup of macadamia and soy nuts each, 1/2 cup of coconut flour, 1 cup of sweetened shredded coconut, tripled the whey protein (GNC Pro Performance® AMP Amplified Wheybolic Extreme 60™ – Vanilla worked great), half the vanilla extract, 1 more Tbl spoon of honey, 3/4 cup of coconut oil and added 2 more eggs. I had to add the extra eggs, oil and honey for the extra whey and coconut flour I added to make it stick together better. I read all the above posts from other people and didn’t want to chance it coming out crumbly. I excluded the salt from the recipe as I used salted nuts. Put in freeze dried blueberries.
I followed some other advice in a post above and mixed some of the unchopped coconut in the batter instead of toasting it on top after baking. The result-
These came out awesome! Just like a coconut and blueberry blondie. I will be making more this weekend, suran wrapped to have ready for next week’s workouts (On P90X Doubles, Bring It!). I think I will do some more modifying in the subsequent batches. Dark Chocolate peppermint with a white chocolate drisel sounds like it would be good.
So, I decided to give this recipe a try and it turned out pretty darn good! I was too chicken to try them by myself, so I brought them to Crossfit this morning. I am new to the whole primal baking thing, and for the first attempt, I didn’t find them too oily or too dry.
I’m glad that I have a healthy snack available instead of always giving in to my brownie and cake cravings. Thanks
for posting!
Just thought I’d add that at the Sam’s Club I go to (Tucson, AZ), they sell 3-lb bags of Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips for a very reasonable price. They also sell smaller bags of these chips at the Cost Plus World Market next door. Not sure if they have a high enough cacao content for the likes of you, but I thought I’d pass it on, since I’ve found that dark chocolate chips are hard to find.
hey! great recipe! i made a slight modification: 1 banana to replace the honey. plenty of sweetness plus itll give you some potassium before a workout
these have become a staple with me, and i’ve never made them exactly the same way twice. last time, i added some maca powder (in use in S. America for centuries), and they’re better than ever.