Banana Bread Protein Bars

My sister introduced me to the Oh She Glows blog. As we seem to speak primarily through recipe sharing, humorous Pinterest finds, craft ideas and pictures of my fabulous canine nephews, it’s only fair she gets a bit of credit for this post.

This seems to summarize what we’ve been up to without having to speak or send novel-length messages to each other. Of all the blogs we discover, most of our exchanges come from Oh She Glows. This particular recipe was an integral part of a road trip down to Oregon for the Eugene Marathon where one of my close friends was racing her competitive marathon debut. There was a big group of us heading down to support her and race the 5K or half-marathon ourselves. It was an awesome event, with a huge PB for the debut marathoner. And so much wonderful food. Everyone had flown down earlier in the week but, as my travel partner and I had to work, we headed out on Friday afternoon for the trip down the coast. Agreeing that no road trip is complete without ample amounts of snacks and good music, we created playlists worthy of top-of-the-lungs singing and packed enough food to feed an army (well at least enough to feed a couple of marathoners).

The favourite snack packed in the car was the banana bread protein bars from Oh She Glows. Not only did they stave off any road trip hanger, they made an excellent pairing with our coffee and provided more than enough energy to support our wild dance parties all the way down to Oregon. The trip took us almost nine hours which meant a lot of dancing and singing needed adequate fuelling. These bars did the trick. They aren’t too sweet, filled with healthy fats and packed with protein — perfect for a road trip.

Only because I couldn’t find the exact ingredients at my local health food store, I made a couple of modifications that still worked wonderfully. Instead of buckwheat groats, I used a half-cup of buckwheat flour and, instead of coconut nectar, I used maple syrup.

Banana bread protein bars
Recipe from Oh She Glows

Vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, soy-free (if using Enjoy Life chocolate)
Yield: 10 bars

Dry ingredients:

• 2/3 cup gluten-free rolled oats
• 1/2 cup raw buckwheat groats*, ground into flour
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
• 3 tbsp chia seeds
• 3 tbsp mini dark chocolate chips (such as Enjoy Life brand)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt

Wet ingredients:

• 3/4 cup mashed ripe banana (about two small-medium)
• 1/2 cup natural smooth peanut butter
• 1/4 cup coconut nectar syrup (or brown rice syrup)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line an eight-inch square pan with two pieces of parchment paper, one going each way. Tip: to get the parchment to stick to the pan, give the base a spray with olive oil and do this for the next paper too.
2. Add raw buckwheat groats into a high-speed blender and blend until a fine flour forms. Whisk all dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
3. Mash bananas until smooth and measure out 3/4 cup. Stir together the banana and all the wet ingredients in a bowl.
4. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir well until combined. The dough should be very sticky!
5. Scoop batter into prepared pan. Place a piece of parchment paper on top of the batter and press it down to spread out the batter evenly. You can also remove the paper and wet your hands lightly and spread it out that way. Make sure it’s as even as possible.
6. Bake at 350F for 22-26 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the bread is firm to touch. Cool in the pan completely (I left it for 1 hour) before removing and slicing into bars.