Cacao Protein Sticks

If there is one skill I possess, it’s having the ability to take my chances in the kitchen and shrug it off if it doesn’t work out. I'm not always lucky, but my protein muffin was stumbled upon by grabbing random items. Today's recipe was born in much the same way.

It’s hard to describe these treats. Are they "a dessert?" Well, perhaps. Wait. Yes.  Are they bread-like? Yes, actually. Well, sort of. Are they a good snack? Definitely. Are they tasty? In my opinion: Yes. The really good news is that they are extremely easy to morph into whatever you’d like: sweet or savory. And they are just plain easy to make. Plus: they are high in protein (7 grams per stick), high in fiber (4 g) and low in calories (110 calories). I love those stats.

What makes them so high in protein? Vital Wheat Gluten. It’s what you use to make seitan (my next experiment?). Official thanks to Janetha for turning me on to the stuff ages ago, when I made a couple of attempts trying to pimp out my protein muffin. I didn't have much success, so the stuff sat in my pantry until today when I decided to give it another shot.

Browned outside

Light and airy inside

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Vital Wheat Gluten
• 2 Tablespoons Coconut Flour
• Stevia or other sweetener (I used about 6 packets of NuNaturals, plus another for dusting the tops)
• 1/8 tsp Baking powder
• 1/8 tsp Baking soda
• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 cup pumpkin or other mashed winter squash
• 1 Tablespoon coconut Manna, coconut butter or other nut butter (or just plain butter!)
• 1 oz Cacao Nibs (or chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325F
2. Allow Coconut Manna to become runny by immersing it under hot water or nuking for a few seconds (it’s hard and can be grated with a fork at room temperature, except in the summer time)
3. Mix dry ingredients together except cacao nibs
4. Mix egg whites with pumpkin
5. Combine dry & wet ingredients & mix- it becomes slightly doughy
6. Add manna, making sure that dough isn’t cold
7. Form into 5 sticks (or any shape)
8. Roll sticks into cacao nibs
9. If using chocolate chips or anything else that will melt, combine them within the rest of the dough



Click picture to enlarge

10. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until tops are slightly brown.

Pumpkin is always my 'carb' of choice in baking. You can sub banana, yogurt, mashed strawberries, etc.

Whisk the egg whites with the pumpkin

Mega protein: From wheat

True, it's a little spendy

Check out the protein! 23 g per 30g. That's nearly as high as whey protein powder!

Coconut Flour...Another amazing product that is a bit spendy (but cheaper at TJ Maxx!). They'll be wrestling a bag of this stuff from my cold, dead hands. It is the 'silkiest' of all flours I have ever tried.

I use stevia- you can use any sweetener (or none, if you are making these savory)

Combine dry ingredients

Mix wet & dry ingredients

This stuff is amazing! It's made from dried coconut. It's not dissimilar to coconut butter, but it's not exactly the same either. I love it because it's hard at room temperature (not in the summer) so it's a great sub for butter. And it's delicious, and melts in your mouth.

 

Mix until you have a 'moist' dough (there's that word!)

Cacao nibs: I LOVE these. They are just tiny pieces of cacao beans (before they go on their life's journey to the Ghirardelli factory) and are cocoa-y despite being not in the least bit sweet. They do not melt either and remain crunchy or chewy in baked goods and smoothies. Great as a topping on oats or yogurt.

 

I decided to have fun with shapes: and doughnuts are all the rage now.

And I used real chocolate in these

Not gonna lie: these were good

These may have been Fauxnuts but they were protein packed and delicious

Edited to add: I just returned from a trip where I brought the rest of this batch with me on planes, cars & ships. They traveled well and saved me in times of hunger. I'll be experimenting with other flavors, but I'll be using this recipe again.  The cacao nibs stayed nice and chewy/crunchy even after about 4 or 5 days. 

Q: Do you ever buy a product only to sit on it forever until actually using it? Are you a recipe follower or do you just throw random stuff together? Have you ever used any of these items that are a bit unusual? Like them or not? If you make these, I'd love to hear about your variations!