Each time I enter Trader Joe’s, I always stick the same 4 things in my shopping basket: bananas (I eat one every day), bagged spinach (ditto), a 3-pack of the red dark chocolate bars (remind me to write the FDA; dark chocolate should really have its own category in the Food Pyramid), and a box of chocolate chip brownie & oat bars. Â
What? You haven’t tried their chocolate chip brownie & oat bars? Why n…
Oh. Because I bought them all.
I’m sorry!
For a little while last year, I stocked up on those boxes like a grizzly bear about to hibernate for the winter. I added three, four, five of them into my basket every time—each box containing 6 individual brownie bars—and barely survived through a week or two. My guy made multiple “emergency” trips to TJ’s just for my brownie bars, and the cashiers probably memorized both of our faces from those purchases alone.
“Hey, look! It’s the brownie bar girl again!”
“Wanna bet how many she gets?”
Now that I bake for a living, I’m slightly embarrassed to be that dependent on factory-produced snack bars, so I resolved the make a copycat.
Well, maybe more of a copy-ish cat.
Trader Joe’s, Oroweat, Fiber One, and most other companies offering high-fiber baked goods don’t solely depend on oats or wheat flour as a source and often add in extra as a separate ingredient. To bump up the fiber in my bars, I would’ve needed to special order chicory root extract online, pay an arm and a leg, and wait 2-3 weeks for shipping. I didn’t think you’d want to do that either!
To compensate for less fiber, I added extra protein. I used the Gourmet Chocolate Designer Whey stocked at most TJ’s because it contained the largest amount of protein and the fewest number of calories per 1-scoop serving. If you choose a different brand, the calorie and protein content may change. With this Designer Whey, I more than doubled the amount of protein per bar compared to TJ’s version!
Finally, I made my bars fudgier than TJ’s because that’s the way I like my brownies! (See here and here.) The ooey gooey middles melt in your mouth, leaving you licking your fingers and reaching for another well.
That’s my personal experience, anyway.
My Chocolate Chip Brownie & Oat Bars are one of the healthiest snack bars you’ll ever make. They’re clean-eating friendly, low calorie, and packed with 6.5 grams of protein. Plus that taste like ooey gooey rich dark chocolate dessert brownies.
Running to your kitchen yet?
These taste like fudgy brownies, but they’re actually a really healthy snack! Store any leftovers in ziplock baggies for at least 1 week.
- Preheat the oven to 300°F, and coat an 8”-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats and next 6 ingredients (through salt). In a separate bowl, whisk together the honey, applesauce, and egg whites. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 300°F for 13-15 minutes. Cool completely to room temperature in the pan before slicing into 10 bars.
Note: If you don’t have quick oats, you can make your own! Measure ½ cup of old-fashioned oats, and pulse 5-8 times in a food processor.
These bars are fantastic!! So yummy and healthy. Perfect snack! I substituted 2 heaping tablespoons of chia seeds for the protein power in case anyone wants to go that route 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed the bars Jessica! And thank you so much for including your substitution — I love hearing what tweaks work! 🙂
At the moment I don’t have whey protein, I have soy though, could I sub that in the recipe? Thank you.
I don’t recommend that substitution because plant-based protein powders are much more absorbent than whey-based ones, so the bars would turn out dry and crumbly. I’m glad you asked Kathryn! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you decide to try these in the future!
Is there a substitute for the whole wheat flour? Thanks in advance!?
Regular all-purpose flour or any store-bought gluten-free flour blend will work. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these bars Nina!
Hi! Could plain regular yogurt (dairy) work instead of the applesauce?
Yes! I’d recommend using 3 tablespoons of yogurt and 1 tablespoon of honey to replace the applesauce. (The applesauce has a natural sweetness, which yogurt doesn’t, so that will keep the bars from tasting too dark!) 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of them Nina!
I followed the recipe as instructed, but what I got pre-baking was certainly not anything like batter. It was more like a dry cookie dough. I pressed it into the baking sheet, and it came out more like a gooey cookie. Still tastes good, but I can’t help but think something went wrong somewhere. I didn’t pack any of the dry ingredients. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Just to add, I did use a different protein powder. Perhaps that’s why.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Valerie! The raw batter texture should be fairly thick, closer to cookie dough and dense brownie batter than thin cake batter, and the baked bars’ final texture should be chewy and slightly fudgy, like brownies. All protein powders behave differently, so if you substituted a different one (especially if it was plant-based!), that would be the most likely cause of the issues that you experienced. What protein powder did you use instead?
That was definitely not how mine turned out :-/. The end result was more crumbly and not at all chewy. I’m thinking it’s gotta be the powder because when I looked at it, I realized it said protein shake powder (Vega brand). The salesperson didn’t tell me there was a difference. Given that it was shake powder, im thinking it soaked up more of the liquid than regular whey protein powder would have done. I’ll try it again soon with the right kind of powder 🙂
Oh! Thanks for including that detail — it was definitely your protein powder. This recipe was designed for whey-based protein powders, not plant-based (Vega is plant-based). Plant-based protein powders tend to be at least 2x as absorbent as whey-based protein powders, meaning they’ll dry out the batter/dough and make it very crumbly. If you can find a whey-based protein powder (and if you find the exact one I listed in the Ingredients list, that will work best!), then these snack bars will turn out much better! 🙂
Thanks for clearing that up for me!
You’re welcome Valerie! 🙂
Do you use egg whites due to baking results or is there another reason you do not use a whole egg?
Certain family members have high cholesterol and are working really hard to reduce that, so I prefer to omit the egg yolks in many of my recipes so they can enjoy the treats too, without any worries or concerns. If you prefer to use 2 whole eggs in this recipe, that’s fine! The bars may require a teensy bit more time to bake because of the added liquid, but the flavor will remain the same. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these snack bars if you try them Debbie!
I will be making these ASAP, they discontinued the Trader Joe’s bar ????????????
Oh no!!! That’s such a bummer about Trader Joe’s discontinuing their snack bars. I really hope you enjoy this homemade version Jeanette!! 🙂