On Saturday during our Hawaii vacation, we drove halfway around the island to see our favorite hula show. I snagged the coveted couches in the open-air lounge as an elderly couple abandoned them, and we all settled in to wait for the torch lighting ceremony to begin.
Throughout the evening, a waitress periodically stopped by to ask for our orders. Everyone put in requests at different times—Dad for a quesadilla before the entertainment started; Mom for a salad in between the torch lighting and hula show; and my brother for a BBQ pizza and passion fruit smoothie while the dancers ran offstage to change clothes.
As an indecisive self-proclaimed snacker, I usually sneak bits and pieces off of other people’s plates to make up my meals. (I can hardly choose just one dish to try on a menu!) But I spent the show distracted by the sweet four-year-old girls up on stage, and I completely forgot to steal enough samples to satisfy my stomach from my family’s dinners!
Before I even buckled my seatbelt, my tummy started rumbling. No way could I survive the 1.5-hour drive back to the condo with a snack! I rustled around the trunk in the pitch-black darkness until I nearly knocked over Mom’s beach bag. Bingo!
An avid hiker, Dad always stashes some energy bars in the car on our vacations, just in case we pass by an interesting trailhead (or he gets hungry). As I ripped one open, my brother asked what I was doing.
“Uhh… Finishing my dinner?”
AKA enjoying pure pretzel and peanut buttery bliss! But when I saw the Mojo™ Nutrition Label back at the condo, I knew I could come up with a lighter version.
My first attempt resulted in what I lovingly referred to as “The Mojo Granola”—too dry and crumbly to stick together as bars! Try #2 came out just perfect, and Dad smiled a bit bigger than normal when I said I’d leave the whole batch with him. (P.S. Check out the Nutrition Information below to see how mine compares to the original!)
These are sweet, salty, soft, and really peanut buttery. They’re a great afternoon or hiking snack!
- Lightly coat an 8”-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray, and set aside.
- Add half of the soy crisps to a blender or food processor, and pulse 3-4 times. Pour into a large bowl and break up any large pieces with your fingers. Repeat with the remaining soy crisps. Add the soy protein powder to the bowl, and stir until evenly distributed.
- Add the powdered peanut butter, water, and agave to a small pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a spatula, for about 3 minutes until it begins to boil. Let it boil for 15-20 seconds before pouring over the soy mixture. Stir with the spatula until all of the dry ingredients are incorporated.
- Pour the soy mixture into the prepared pan, and carefully press down. In order, sprinkle the peanuts, pretzels, and peanut butter chips over top, pressing each down into the soy mixture. Cut into 10 bars.
Notes: I used Whole Food’s 365 Everyday Value Soy Crisps, Sea Salt flavor. These were lower in fat and higher in protein than other brands.
I cut each of my peanut butter chips in half to ensure there’d be a little bit in every bite, but you can sprinkle the whole chips on top instead if you’re in a hurry!
These are so great! I need to do some copycats like this. My daughter eats me out of my food prop money with all her energy bars, so a copy cat would be amazing.
That’s a big predicament! Good props are hard to come by, and the best ones come with a slightly larger price tag… I hope you come up with some good copycats (and your daughter enjoys them too)!
I am OBSESSED with these bars! I JUST refueled my stash yesterday! Your version looks amazing…AMAZING. I guarantee your bars win! I need to make these.
Thanks Brittany! They’re pretty addictive… I can’t even buy the originals anymore because I will eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack — all in the same day!
These look great Amy! You know when I saw you had PB in the title I had to come by & check it out. 😉
Thank you Karey! I’m kind of obsessed with peanut butter right now… (And a big part of it is because of you, reminding me how delicious it is!) Both recipes this week have been PB treats, and I have another extra special one coming next week! I can’t stop!
Omygosh I am obsessed with these bars!! I used to eat those mojo bars all the time in college – LOVE your copycat version! And the nutrition stats are great, you totally slashed the fat, the original can creep up on you 🙂
Thanks Kristina! I’m glad I didn’t discover them until after college; I would’ve eaten them all the time too. And that was the first thing I wanted to change; I wasn’t too happy that half of the original Mojo calories were from fat!
Hawaii – that’s awesome! These bars look great especially to a peanut butter lover.
Thanks Christine! The bars were packed with peanut butter flavor, and I have an extra special PB treat coming next week too! 🙂
HOLY YUM!!! I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I’ve never had a Mojo bar, based on how many fans there seem to be on this page, but I don’t think I’ll ever need to now with this recipe! I’ve never heard of PB2… but I’m a PB freak (I think I told you this… to the point where I had to stop buying it at one point in college because of a lack of self control) so I think I’ll pick some of that up soon! What brand of soy protein powder did you use? And was it vanilla flavored or anything?
PS- I adore this set of photos. 🙂
Thanks Andrea! I hadn’t had a Mojo bar before our vacation either. The Nutrition Information kept me from trying one, but a desperate growling tummy calls for desperate measures! 😉 Whole Foods is one of the only places I could find PB2 — go figure! I bought my protein powder from a local grocery store’s bulk bins, so I’m not sure of the brand. It didn’t have any flavoring, but if you can’t find unflavored powder, I’d probably go with vanilla!
Hi Amy, Thanks for sharing the recipe!! I have a need to stay away from soy. I know I can replace the soy protein powder with whey, but do you by any chance know what I can substitute for the soy crisps? I’ve never had soy crisps so I’m not sure what to use.
THANKS!!
Anne
My pleasure Anne! Soy crisps look and have a very similar texture to mini rice cakes, so you could easily substitute with those. Quaker has their “Popped” products (although I don’t believe they carry a just-salted flavor), and other companies and stores may offer more brands too. If you do make the bars, I’d love to hear how your version turn out!
Thanks for taking time to respond! I believe I’ll check Wegman’s (grocery store)… they make “Popped” rice cakes right in the store.
Take care,
Anne
My pleasure, Anne! You’re lucky to have a grocery store that makes their own rice cakes. The ones near me don’t even bake their own cakes or cupcakes — they only decorate them. Hope the bars turn out well for you!
These came out wonderful! I used rice krispies and finely ground peanuts instead of soy crisps and pb2. I love my mojo bars still, but it is so nice to be able to make a granola bar type thing and not turn on the oven. These will definitely be a staple:)
I’m so happy to hear that! I love your substitution too — I wouldn’t have thought to use rice krispies, but that’s a great idea. I’ll keep that in mind the next time I make them! 🙂
I also used a version of rice crispies. I used Erewhorn crispy brown rice cereal. Mine turned out sort of mushy and I can’t really make bars out of them and they look really thick compared to your pictures. The flavor is still great, so I think I will just have to play around with it a little bit to get the right combination of PB sauce to crispies.
I’m glad you enjoyed the flavor Cassie! I’m sorry they turned out mushy for you though; that must have been somewhat disappointing. If you’re using crisp rice cereal, I think it’d be best to add slightly less than the 5 cups called for in the recipe. The soy rice crisps were more of flat discs that didn’t completely fill up the measuring cup (a bit of empty space between them because of their shape!), so perhaps reducing the cereal to 4 cups instead might help. I hope your next batch turns out perfectly!