Protein Bars for my Valentine

 

I decided to make some protein bars for Perry to take to work for breakfast on Tuesday.  I figured since it was going to be Valentine's Day, I'd make a few of them heart-shaped.  The shape wasn't quite as perfect as I'd hoped, but I was very happy with the flavour and texture.  

I found this recipe and thought it sounded like a winner.
It had just about everything I was looking for, so I only had to change a couple of things.

Here's what I did...

 I put 2 cups of almonds and 1/4 cup ground flax seed into my food processor.  Didn't worry too much about the flax being completely ground up.

I added 1/2 cup raisins and 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut to the food processor

plus 1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt, 1/2 cup hemp hearts and 1/4 cup chia seeds.

 Then I processed it, but left it a bit chunky.

Next, I added 1/4 cup vanilla protein powder (sweetened with stevia)

and 1/3 cup raw cacao powder and processed the whole lot.

Then, in a medium saucepan, I gently melted 1/4 cup virgin coconut oil then added the contents of the food processor as well as 1/2 cup almond butter.

I mixed it all together and scooped it into silicone heart-shaped molds.  Then I topped them with melted 70% cocoa chocolate.

I popped them into the freezer for an hour and voila!