Chocolate Energy Bars

While gnawing on my 1,529,423^rd Cliff Bar during my most recent hike, I had the strange desire to try something new.  Cliff Bars aren't really bad for you, but they are pretty high in sugar and I also knew I could totally kick the nutrition content up a notch, or two, with a home-made energy bar.   I was thinking of trying my own recipe, but I thought for the first go-around I should try an established one from somebody else.  I like to think I'm adventurous, but wasting a huge batch of atrociously expensive superfoods due to incompetency is where I just have to draw the line.  Thankfully, Julie Morris had a great recipe - her Chocolate Energy Bars - so, I went with those.

Chocolate Energy Bars

I threw in the extra/suggested ingredient Hemp Protein powder to kick up the protein content. I also threw in a few extra ingredients (Wheatgrass, Spirulina and the Amazing Grass powder) to make this a powerful "green" food too. Score (Me, 1; Cliff Bars, 0)

The Amazing Grass products are pretty .... amazing.  They contain quite the mix of nutritious foods and most also have a probiotic and digestive enzyme blend included, as well.  I've been having a small chocolate drink in the morning with the powder also used in this energy bar.  Also, we've been mixing their Raw Reserve (25 Billion CFU greens powder) into a drink, or two. 

Overall, these bars taste better than a Cliff Bar and less sweet, at the same time.  Score (Me, 2; Cliff Bars, 0)

However, for them to have that nice soft, gooey homemade texture, seems like they need to be consumed within a couple weeks, or frozen. This puts the final score at (Me, 2; Cliff Bars, 1), with ME being the clear winner of this obviously scientific rating system.

Alrighty then, so here is the ingredient line-up:

• 1 ½ cups soft Medjool Dates (about 15, or 16) pits removed
• ¼ cup raw Almonds
• ¼ cup raw Cashews
• ¼ cup raw Cacao powder
• 3 tablespoons Cacao nibs
• 6 tablespoons Hemp Seeds
• 1 tablespoon Chia Seeds
• 1 tablespoon Maca powder
• 1 teaspoon Mesquite powder
• 1 tablespoon Hemp Protein powder
• 1 teaspoon Wheatgrass powder
• 1 teaspoon Spirulina powder
• 1 scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate Greens Powder

Throw all those guys into a food processor and mix until a coarse dough has formed. Mine turned out a little dry, most likely from the added ingredients, so I had to add some extra water to get the dough a little gooier. Add in about 1/2 teaspoon at a time, if you have the same problem.  Don't add in more than that each time, as it's really easy to go over and end up with a concrete ball in your food-processor

Next, pulse in the following ingredients. Pulsed in, so that they stay a little chunky in there, so don't grind it too long with these, just enough to mix them in well.  I personally found getting these guys mixed evenly a little tricky.

• 2 tablespoons favorite raw nuts/seeds (I used sunflower and pumpkin seeds)
• ¼ cup dried favorite dried fruit (I used Goji Berries)

Voila, now throw them in your backpack and go for a hike, climb, bicycle ride, or whatever it is that gets you outside!

Chocolate Energy Bars

Rebecca also made a delicious batch of these recently.  Check it out, here