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Protein Oatmeal Cookie Bars

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There is a saying I’m sure you’ve heard: “Never trust a skinny cook.”

big butts cannot lie

I must call BS.  Look at Giada – she resembles a bobble head and she makes a killer cheesecake!

Despite my best efforts, I’m probably not the largest cook around.  But you can trust me.  If you don’t trust me, you can certainly trust Lauren and Alicia, who both trusted my Spaghetti Squash Pie this week:

Spaghetti Squash Pie

Spaghetti Squash Pie

I’m especially excited to make a Mexican version of this one.  I bought all of the stuff, but then went for Indian food last night.  Whoops!  It was tasty though.  Maybe I should make a curry version…

In case you’re wondering what spaghetti pie has to do with the title of this post… well, I forgot… Skinny cooks… trusting me… tasty healthy oatmeal bars!  Ok, I’m back with you.

Today’s Oatmeal Cookie Bars started out as cookies, hence the name.  Months ago my trainer requested a protein oatmeal cookie.  Unfortunately, the hard part about baking with protein powder is that is make the batter quite thin unless you add a lot of flour, which make them really high in carbs.  This lesson presented itself to me again as I went to scoop my batter onto the baking sheet.  Souper-runny.

No matter, that’s why I bought a bar baking pan.  If you don’t have a bar pan a muffin tin will work just fine, or you can make one big cookie cake!

I added a little more flour, mixed the thing up again, and poured it into the pan.  And by some pope-tacular miracle of God, it worked.  And it was good.

These aren’t overly sweet, which was my goal.  It is a deep oatmeal and cinnamon flavored bar, with bites of earthy chocolate from the carob chips.

Protein Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Despite wanting cookies, I appreciated the moist, cake-like quality of these bars.  It worked well with the oatmeal texture and at just 128 calories, you can slather a generous amount of nut butter on top of a warm bar as “icing.”

Not that I’ve been doing that. 😉

Protein Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Pre-workout snack

The best part came when I took the fresh batch to the gym.  Lee Haney (8x Mr. Olympia!) was there finishiing up a session and he took a bar to try… and he said they were DELICIOUS!  I die.

In conclusion: If you don’t trust this cook, trust an 8x Mr Olympia and try these. 😉

Protein Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Protein Oatmeal Cookie Bars

  • 1/4 C (1/2 stick) butter or Earth Balance, softened
  • 1/4 C unsweetened applesauce
  • 2/3 C tagatose (or other sweetener)
  • 1 flax egg (1 T ground flax + 3 T water), or 1 regular egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp brown sugar extract (optional)
  • 1/4 C whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 C protein powder (I used 1.5 scoops of Designer Whey White Chocolate)
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 C rolled oats
  • 1/2 C Scottish oats
  • 1/4 C carob chips (or chocolate chips)
  • 1/2 C walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, applesauce, sugar, egg, and extracts until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, protein powder, baking soda, and cinnamon together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, carob chips, and walnuts.

Scoop batter onto grease square tine (or muffin tin). Bake them for 10-12 mins, until golden. Let sit on baking sheet for ~5 mins before transferring to a rack to cool.

Makes 12 bars.

Approximate nutrition: 128 calories, 6.6g fat, 14.3g carbohydrates, 2.7g fiber, 2.2g sugar, 6.8g protein.

Note: These can easily be made vegan by using a vegan protein powder.

***

I am especially grateful to Lauren and Alicia because they gave me a pie to post about on Pi Day! 😉

Are you celebrating Pi Day?

Skinny cooks.  Can you trust ’em?

Comments

  1. Haha, totally have heard of that saying. I kind of like it. But, I don’t believe in it obviously. Giada is a culinary genius, and same with some fellow food bloggers!
    I seriously can’t wait to find spaghetti squash, I’m still dying to try that pie!
    These protein oatmeal cookie bars look fantastic! I’ve been oat obsessed lately. It’s weird because I totally wasn’t into them for about 4 months, but now I have them at least once a day.

    • Thank you! The pie really was good… you can always try it the old school way with noodles! 🙂

  2. I WILL be trying these – even before I knew they were Mr Olympia approved 😉 I prefer a subtle sweet, a natural sweet, so yeah, these will get made this weekend! (I have still been taking treats up to the hospital, I better make a double batch…)

    hmmm, perhaps I can make a spaghetti pie and bring it to the nurses at lunchtime…?

    • you are such a sweet person to bring the nurses snacks too! They must love you. I always was super nice to them just in case it meant better care for my dad (and it’s good to be nice – they deal with SO many a-holes)

    • Thank you! I hope this is cookie-monster approved. 🙂 My granola cookies may be a good option too for a more traditional cookie. (I am a total cookie monster too.)

  4. This looks delicious. I’ve never heard of tagatose. Also where is that strawberry shortcake recipe? I think you mentioned something about one of those.

  5. Oh no! I totally forgot about Pi day! Again. I’ll just celebrate my own birthday instead. 😉
    I’ve never baked with protein powder. Guess I need to try those bars. Thanks for making them vegan friendly!

  7. You’re talking to a math teacher over here . . . yay for Pi Day!!! 🙂 Looks like a winner of a recipe–I’d expect no less from you. Personally, I’m a fan of cookies that are secretly healthy and not too sweet. I’d rather taste the cinnamon, oats and carob/chocolate.

    • Did you do anything withyour students to celebrate? We use to have Pi parties. And Mole Day celebrations – that was my favorite.

    • He works with my trainer closely – they are doing his certification program! Dude is HUGE.

  11. Ooo, these look tasty! I need to get some protein powder on hand still to make them, though.

    Adding them to my list!

    P.S. I love the bar pans because they make your brownies so cute, as opposed to doing a sheet and cutting them. Jealous!

  13. Yum. I often find when making ‘healthier’ bars and cookies (or both) texture is the most difficult thing, especially if you have a very specific idea of what that texture should be. This is why I have taken so darn long to believe my Savory Protein Bars are ‘perfect.’ But now they are. 🙂

    Also, as regards this recipe, the good news for you–and me–is that generally, I prefer chewy to super-crisp. [I hate crispy cookies. What’s the point?]

    • You are so right! Especially when using powder. You never know how they are going to bake. Sometimes I wish I’d just eaten the batter. LOL!

  15. I have a similar pan – more of a mini-loaf and I love it. I think it’s just fun to bake up stuff in it for gifts (like mini banana bread loaves). Anyway, this sounds great and I would totally trust a skinny chef b/c I think that means they’re probably cooking healthier. Or at least trying.

    • I have a mini-loaf too! Love those. 🙂

      And good point – healthy chefs > Paula Deen. Not to name names…

  18. I am so jealous that you met Lee Haney! VERY VERY coll that he loved your bars!!!! They look amazing!!!! I am eager to try this one! I need to get a couple ingredients though. 😉

  21. K that is the first ecard thingy i have found funny…only because i could picture sterling archer saying that exact same thing!

  22. i totally trust you..these look delicious!! I definitely wouldn’t be able to stop at one haha…and if Mr Olympia approves then they’re definitely a must yumm!

  23. I refuse to believe you only used 1/2 tsp of cinnamon in these bars. 😀

    I trust skinny cooks for healthy foods but if I want a pie, I’mma trust Paula Deen. 😀 Sigh. Now I want pie. Happy Pi Day!!!

  29. Giada does look like a bobble head, but you’re right, she makes delicious food. There must be something to that saying! I was just looking through my refirgerator, and I spotted a spagetti sqaush waiting to be made into your pie! Will report back on how it turns out. 🙂

  30. Hey lovely lady! Did you consider banana to thicken the batter? Would that work? I’m new at this kind of thing so just a thought…

    • I have done a banana-based chocolate chip cookie before… but I really wanted these to be all oatmeal!

    • I am so thrilled that you loved it… and that it was L approved. I’m still grinning voer that IG pic. 🙂

  33. HOW AWESOME ARE YOU! People making your recipes! WTF! Biggest honor EVER!! I have no doubt in my mind that people are going to be making these oatmeal bars too! 😉 You are a recipe wizard!

    • Thanks GiGi! You deserve and asward for maaking my spew coffee out my nose every day. 😉

  35. Haha! I remember watching “the Next Great Baker” and there being this skinny chick. Like honestly… I understand maybe a slim cook but a skinny person who makes cakes! I’d be constantly taste testing my work 😉

  36. I think you have to know your cooks. The fat ones might only know how to make really unhealthy food, which in turn I would not want to put in my bod.

    However I think I can trust you (I’ve tried several of your recipes) and even though you are a little on the thin side (not that that is a bad thing) you know what you are talking about.

    You just have to taste the end product to really know if the chef is worth their salt.

    • That’s a great view point! I appreciate your trust – I know you’re a honest one. 😉

  37. “I must call BS. Look at Giada – she resembles a bobble head and she makes a killer cheesecake!”—> thank you for absolutely making me CRACK UP! She is a super good cook though!! I trust you too 😀

  40. I love Giada. Kids, a chef, and that banging body. I have never heard of tagatose. please elaborate. And I feel like I need that bar pan even though I have a square silicon baking dish. I’m just a sucker for convenient kitchen supplies

    • I linked to it in the recipe. It’s another all-nautral sugar alternative. I liked it – no after-taste! 🙂

  41. Um yeah. That spaghetti squash pie was INCREDIBLE. I will be making it again and again (and I might have to try my own Mexcian version too!).
    And the cookies… they made me DROOL when I was reading your blog on my phone this morning. That was ALMOST enough to get my butt up out of bed and bake a batch! Almost.

    • I am SO glad you liked it! ANd it was man-approved! 🙂

      We need to get on Skype and make a Mexcian Pie toegther virtually. Haha!

  43. Seriously, with Giada’s head AND her ginormous breasts (it had to be said), I don’t know how that girl manages to stay upright! Lol

    Nice “holy” cookies you’ve got there, lady! I may or may not have just licked my computre screen…um, forgivv me uf Im makim any typoos…I rally needd to grab some screeen cleanr! 😉

    • I wanted to also mention her ta-tas in the post SO BAD but I didn’t want to take it too far. So glad you did. 😉

      You need to lay off the booze while you’re on pain killers. LOL! I’m going to drive up there with a special delivery one day!

      • Ahhh! Omg, that would make my day! But I’d have to know PLENTY in advance so I can get with the man-friend and scope out all of the BEST places in Nashville…we may not visit any underground supper clubs, but I gotta do what I can to show you ATL’s not the only place for foodies! 😉

  45. “Pope-tacular miracle of God.” It’s getting thick in here; too bad you can’t add more protein powder to thin it out.
    I love that Mr. Olympia gave you his seal of approval. Mr Olympia approved for the win.

  46. Pi Day doesn’t exist for me, because as an Australian we put the day before the month when writing out the date.

    I trust any cook who makes desserts.

  47. aahhhhhh i see tagatose in there. So, do you have any issues with it? I made cookies with it when I got some samples of it. I had 2 cookies (and had cut the sugar in my recipe to 3/4 cup from 1 c so there was 3/4 c of tagatose) and I was on the toilet for the next 7 hours. I asked the company that sent that to me to add a better warning because it took me a week to get back to normal again since I have a sensitive GI system. Their current warning says “excessive consumption can cause diarrhea”. Last I checked, 2 cookies was not excessive.

    • You have such a sensitive tummy! I didn’t have a problem. I gave them to my mom and 3 other friends and didn’t hear any thing back form them… 🙁

      • also, i am currently having a huge stomachache (allergic reaction) to stevia. i am allergic to ragweed, and come to find out Stevia is from the same plant family so if you have that allergy and have too much at once (or any, as I’ve found out), you get a huge tummyache, headache, and potentially life-threatening reactions.

        weeeee … seriously. f. this. i want a GI system transplant.

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