Tropical Quinoa Protein Bars

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line an 8×8 inch pan with parchment paper, spraying the paper lightly with cooking spray.

Place the chopped macadamia nuts and quinoa onto a baking sheet and 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 (see note).

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 bowl and 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 300ºF and bake until the bars are golden brown and the top feels firm, about 40-45 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing into bars.

Notes:
1. 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!
2. Bars are best kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator.