My three favorite things, combined! Chocolate, coffee and protein! This is the perfect pre-workout snack. The protein powder, oat flour and black beans give you just the right amount of lean protein, fiber and slow digesting carbohydrates to help you burn fat and sculpt your muscles during your workout. But let’s rewind. I’m sure you skimmed over the “black beans” and you didn’t want to read any further. 🙂 You WILL NOT taste the black beans in this recipe. I mean, if you ignore my advice to puree them and you add them whole, then yeah, it’s not going to be appetizing. But if you puree them first, it’s the same as adding sweet potato, pumpkin, banana or avocado to any other “healthy” recipe.
So step away from the bananas and peanut butter, all that is going to do is give you an insulin spike (keep you from burning fat) and extra calories. You want a good source of protein and slow digesting carbohydrates to fuel your workout. If you’re going to do the work, you might as well let food help you towards your goal, not hinder your progress! So whip up a batch of these delicious protein bars! Eat one before each workout, they’ll last you over a week! Plus there are no added preservatives or processed sugars like the ones you’ll get from the local vitamin store.
Ingredients:
2 scoops chocolate OR mocha flavored whey protein powder
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup black bean puree (rinse about 1 cup canned, low sodium black beans and blend with a splash of water)
¼ cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1-2 teaspoons coffee grounds (I used hazelnut flavor)
3 tablespoons Stevia OR Truvia natural sweetener
2 tablespoons Oat flour (you can also use millet or whole wheat flour)
3 tablespoons coconut oil *room temperature
2 egg whites
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
Directions:
In a medium bowl combine protein powder, coffee grounds, stevia, oat flour, baking powder and sea salt. Set aside.
Measure out about a cup of canned, low sodium black beans. Rinse off excess liquid in a strainer. Put black beans and a splash of water in a blender, food processor or magic bullet and blend until completely smooth, NO CHUNKS! Be sure it measures out to 2/3 cup puree.
Combine black bean puree, almond milk, coconut oil and egg whites in a small bowl and stir until well blended.
Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. Don’t mix it too much, just until all the ingredients are blended.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until completely cooked through the center. Let them cool before you cut them.
*I discovered that the coffee flavor really came out once I let them completely cool.
Cut into “bars” and wrap in saran wrap. Store them in a Tupperware container in the fridge until your next workout! 🙂
FemmeFIT Physique 