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Tropical Chickpea & Quinoa Homemade Protein Bars - Quinoa, chickpeas, white chocolate, macadamia nuts, pineapple and fresh lime come together in these easy, gluten free and healthy snack bars that taste like summer! | Foodfaithfitness.com | @FoodFaithFit
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Tropical Quinoa Homemade Protein Bars with White Chocolate + Chickpeas {Gluten Free}

These homemade protein bars are made with quinoa, chickpeas, white chocolate, macadamia nuts, lime and pineapple for an easy, healthy snack that tastes like summer!
Course Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 12
Author FoodFaithFitness

Ingredients

  • 1/4 Cup Macadamia nuts finely chopped
  • 3/4 CupQuinoa uncooked
  • 1/4 Cup Unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 2/3 Cup Sodium-reduced Chickpeas drained and rinsed (128g)
  • 1/3 Cup Dried pineapple finely chopped
  • 1/4 Cup Vanilla Whey protein powder
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1/4 Cup White chocolate chips
  • Zest of 1 large lime
  • 1/3 Cup Honey
  • 1 Tbsp Coconut oil
  • 1 Large egg white

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line an8x8 inch panwith parchment paper, spraying the paper lightly with cooking spray.
  • Place the chopped macadamia nuts and quinoa onto a baking sheetand bake until lightly golden brown, about 9 minutes. Sprinkle the coconut flakes onto the pan and bake until they turn golden brown, an additional 2-3 minutes. Watch carefully as coconut burns quickly!
  • Dump the chickpeas onto a paper towel and pat dry. This will remove some of the skins on the chickpeas. Gently press each chickpea between your fingers to remove the skins from each pea, and then place into a large bowl. *
  • Using a fork, mash the chickpeas. Put a little muscle into it and make them as soft as you can.
  • Add the toasted quinoa mixture, along with the dried pineapple, protein powder, salt, white chocolate chips, and lime zest into the bowl and stir until evenly mixed. (I find using my hands is the easiest to get the chickpeas well incorporated.)
  • Place the honey and coconut oil into a medium, microwave-safe bowland cook until the oil and honey are melted and bubbly, about 1 minute.
  • Stir the honey mixture, along with the egg white, into the quinoa mixture and mix well. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish.
  • Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake until the bars are golden brown and the top feels firm, about 40-45 mins.
  • Let cool completely before slicing into bars.
  • DEVOUR

Notes

* I've made these without de-skinning the peas, and they still taste good, but taking that extra 5 minutes really adds to the texture!
Bars are best kept in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.