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Can we talk about the massive heat wave DC is experiencing right now? Seriously, you guys, it’s awful. Call me a whiner, but this humidity is unbearable. It’s only at 41% today, but it might as well be 100%. This west coast girl is just not prepared for this kind of weather. Many people in the area lost power in a freak thunder and lightning storm Friday night, and were forced to relocate temporarily until their power returned. I haven’t heard much about the status of these power outages, but if you were affected, I hope you have your power back by now!
When it gets like this, no bake desserts become so necessary. Firing up my oven turns my studio apartment into a sweat box, even with the air conditioning blasting. The particular dessert has creamy peanut butter (CoCo Bananas PB Crave to be exact), coconut, a bit of maple syrup for sweetness, and chocolate protein powder (which essentially makes this dessert a health food, in my book).
You can always use regular old creamy peanut butter, but PB Crave takes this dessert to a whole other level. The hint of banana adds another level of flavor depth to this no-bake bar. I’m sure it would taste equally great with any of their other flavors as well. You could also sub the peanut butter for another nut butter (i.e. almond or cashew butter) to make it paleo-friendly.
| No-Bake Peanut Butter Coconut Protein Bars |
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (I used PB Crave CoCo Bananas)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup chocolate protein powder
- 1/2 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut
- Line 8×8 baking dish with parchment or spray with cooking spray.
- Combine peanut butter and maple syrup in a medium saucepan, and melt over low heat, about two minutes.
- Stir in protein powder and coconut while mixture is still warm.
- Remove mixture from heat, and pour into baking dish (mixture may not fill entire dish).
- Refrigerate at least one hour (or freeze for 15 min) until firm.
- Cut and serve, yields about 16 small bars.
vegan and gluten free
Loosely adapted from this recipe from Averie Cooks
Thank goodness for weekend manicures!
If you liked this, check out these other awesome recipes that would work fantastically with some PB Crave:
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies from Chip Chip Hooray
- Reeses Peanut Butter Banana Bread from Cookies and Cups
- Bacon Peanut Butter Banana Bread from How Sweet It Is
- Skinny Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies from Sally’s Baking Addiction
As a disclaimer, I received no compensation from PB Crave for my review of their product. I purchased the product myself and all opinions are my own.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
This looks incredible! I love no-bake recipes, especially ones that I can feel good about eating. I love all of the guilt-fre eingredients in these, too. What on earth is PB Crave CoCo Bananas? I am intrigued! Thank you for the link-up, too
Thanks Sally, glad you enjoyed the recipe! PB Crave is out of this world, they have all-natural flavored peanut butters and the nutrition info isn’t all that different from regular PB. Tara @ Chip Chip Hooray actually has a giveaway going on right now, if you’re interested
and I’m always happy to link up any of your recipes, they’re all so great!
They look so good! Love that they’re no bake and full of PB and coconut…now I want to try one!
Thanks Averie!
Any good substitutes for coconut. Just not loving the texture.
BTW, Your mom and I went to Austin Tx and we couldnt take the humidity and heat.
Living in California makes you a weather wuss. Cant take any variations from the dry , sunny and not too hot.
So tell me, is DC summer worse then the Arizona 110 + degrees
You could probably leave it out altogether and it would turn out just fine! If you wanted you could probably add rolled oats or chopped nuts for some texture?
DC summer is 1000 times worse! Wish I was back in CA, miss you Dad!
these look delicious! i need a manicure…
Thanks Lynn! I could use another one right about now too, haha