Apple Cinnamon Protein Bar

There's a great company out of Chicago that makes 100% Paleo, 100% Whole30-approved high protein energy bars. They only use fruit, nuts, clean egg white protein powder, and spices. They're awesome!

Unfortunately {like the rest of the paleo world} clean, whole food equals expensive food. 10 RxBars will run you about $30. I'm sorry, but $3 a bar for a post-WOD snack is a bit much for me. However, clean, whole food also equals ingredients that I have on hand and can easily replicate.

So I got to work. RxBars are basically a Larabar with protein powder, and since I've made a homemade version of brownie batter Larabars, I figured an RxBar wouldn't be too hard to master.

And luckily I was right. The original has 7 ingredients: dates, egg white protein powder, almonds, figs, apple powder, cinnamon, and apple oil. Mine only has 5- I left out the figs and apple oil {because I have no clue what apple oil is...} and for apple powder, I processed freeze-dried apples into a powder {no idea if that's actually what apple powder is, but it worked :)} I was even able to match the nutritional context almost exactly.

Apple Cinnamon Protein Bar

What You'll Need:

{for 1 bar}

• 10 Almonds
• 3T Egg White Protein Powder {I used this}
• 5g Freeze Dried Apples {I used Target's Simply Balanced}
• A few sprinkles of Cinnamon
• 4 Dates, pitted {not medjool}

{for 5 bars}

• 60g Almonds
• 1 cup Egg White Protein Powder
• 1-28g pkg Freeze Dried Apples
• 1/4 -1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 20 Dates, pitted {not medjool}

What To Do:

1. In a small food processor {I used my mini Ninja when making only one, but the 5 bar batch required a regular sized one}, blitz the almonds, protein powder, apples, and cinnamon until finely ground.
2. Add dates and process until uniformly broken down.
3. Add very little water {seriously, a few drops} and process. Continue to do this until the mixture starts to stick together. I added probably less that 1 tsp over the course of 3 iterations for 1 bar and about 1.5 Tbsp for the 5 bar batch. 
4. Form into a bar or roll into bite-sized balls. I pressed into a small ramekin I had to make disks. Refrigerate in an air-tight container.