Power Bars

Power bars you bake yourself taste better than store-bought ones and are much less expensive.

One key ingredient is soy flour. If you can find a store that sells defatted soy flour use that! Then your power bars will have equivalent proportions of protein, carbohydrates, and fat to store-bought power bars. With normal soy flour there is more fat but the power bars are still definitely healthy.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Add to a large bowl (or mixer):

• 5 eggs
  
• 1 cup nonfat yogurt (we use vanilla)
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup brown sugar (not packed)
  
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup nonfat milk
  

Mix well, then add:

• 2 cups gluten-free flour mix
• 1 1/2 cup soy flour (defatted if available)
• 1/2 cup nonfat milk powder
  
• 3/4 cup almond meal
  
• 1/4 cup flax seed meal
  
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup chopped nuts
• 2 tsp xanthan gum
  
• 1 tsp baking powder
  

When adding the dry ingredients, make sure then xanthan gum does not get wet until you really start mixing.

Mix well.

Bake in a jelly roll pan (a cookie sheet with walls) that has been sprayed with oil or has a silicon baking mat.

As with a bar cookie, it is done when it becomes firm and browns underneath (about 15 minutes).

Makes 16 bars, each with about 300 calories, 40 grams carbohydrates, 12 grams fat, 11 grams protein, and $0.30 cost. (Using defatted soy flour reduces the fat to 10 grams, and increases the cost to $0.50 per bar.)

For variations, the following work well:

• adding dried fruit and replacing liquid milk with fruit juice (or a lesser amount of lemon juice)
  
• adding cocoa poweder and replacing chopped nuts with peanut butter
• adding molasses and spices appropriate for pumpkin pie or spice cookies