Nutrition

PREP: 10-15 mins

FREEZE for 20 mins

Difficulty:  Super Easy

INGREDIENTS

• 3TBS of your favourite no-sugar added nut butter (I love almond!)
• 3 TBS Brown Rice Syrup (Biona brand), this is the secret ingredient!
• 100g 70% cocoa solid dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks
• 50g-70g desiccated coconut, depending how macaroon like you want them
• 200g Jumbo oats, the bigger the size of the oat flake the better
• 100g chopped nuts – can mix and match
• 2 Scoops of chocolate whey protein powder (equivalent to 25-30g protein)
• 100 ml milk (I use 1 %)

METHOD

1. Blend the nut butter, brown rice syrup and chocolate chunks over low heat. Stir to mix ingredients. I like to melt the chocolate completely, ok Joe likes it when the chocolate is melted completely, but you can leave it a little chunky. That works well too.
2. Transfer to a bowl and add the rest of the dry ingredients.
3. Add the milk and stir or knead until it is well mixed and dough-like.
4. Line a 30x18cm baking tin with parchment paper and spread the dough-like mixture evenly. Press down firmly. I like to roll it with a clean jam jar to really press it together and get it into the corners.
5. Pop it in the freezer for 20-mins
6. After 20-mins cut into bars and store in the fridge.

NUTRITION PER SERVING

Well, this depends on the size of the bar of course! Say you cut into10 bars then the protein content would be around 12-14g per bar, the carbohydrate around 23-27g depending on the nuts you use (cashew being the highest carb nut) and healthy fats would be around 18-20g.

This is a great snack mid-morning or mid-afternoon. You need fair amounts of all 3-macronutrients as usually you are coming from a training session or going to a training session plus it’s just better than a quick sweet fix. I’d rather have good amounts of complex carb, protein and healthy fats that come with a good amount of antioxidants and other nutrients than a sugar laden chocolate bar.

A note about Brown Rice Syrup – it’s not a common ingredient (Biona is a recognised brand though) but you can either get your local health food store to order it or you can get it online. It’s so worth it! That amount of honey is too sweet. Brown Rice Syrup is a softer, caramel taste. It’s my favourite sweetener on the whole. Lower glycemic index too so less impact on blood sugar levels – a positive for performance.