Copycat Perfect Bars
Ingredients
- 3 dates Medjool
- 1/2 cup peanut butter natural, unsweetened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1-2 tbsp chocolate chips
Instructions
- Remove pits from medjool dates. Soak dates in warm water for 10 minutes.
- Drain the dates and add them along with the peanut butter to a food processor. Process until smooth, scraping down sides occasionally.
- Add vanilla and almond flour and continue to process until a dough forms.
- Line a small pan (like a loaf pan) with parchment paper. Press bar mixture into loaf pan. To maintain a thicker bar, I did not use the entire loaf pan. I used maybe 2/3 of the pan.
- Gently press chocolate chips onto the surface of the bars. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, until cold and set.
- Remove from pan and cut into 8 pieces. Keep refrigerated in an air tight container.
Nutrition
They’re super simple with just peanut butter, softened dates, almond flour, vanilla, and chocolate chips on top!
I love perfect bars because they basically taste like peanut butter in bar form. But I usually buy the kids version because it’s a little smaller and I like to incorporate it into a meal. For example: smoothies. Gotta love them but they don’t keep me full very long. Did you know chewing actually helps you feel more satiety? So I like to pair either eggs or a peanut butter bar with my smoothie to keep me satisfied! Other scenario, cereal. Also love it, but also not satisfied for very long. I need a little more protein/fat to stay full.
Enter: perfect bars
Now, this video was done on the fly. I’d never made them before. I looked at a few recipes and a lot of them call for protein powder or collagen or egg white powder. I don’t keep any of those on hand. What I did have was peanut butter and almond flour. So threw those together with some dates for sweetness and a little vanilla extract, and guess what, it actually worked
Take a look at our culinary dietitian Kaitlin Williams Eckstein, MPH, RD, LD making these copycat perfect bar on this live cooking video demo.
Let us know what you think of our cooking video. Would you like to see more cooking videos? Let us know if you tried our perfect bar and please add your comments in the comments section.
An award winning recipe developer, Dietitian Kaitlin’s mission is to empower others to reach their health goals by encouraging them to get back into the kitchen. Co-author of Nourished: 10 Ingredients to Happy, Healthy Eating and Cooking with Diabetes.
