Vanilla Protein & Cacao Shortbread Bars

DOUBLE DECKER (more like double delicious) VANILLA PROTEIN + CACAO SHORTBREAD

Tastes like: Heaven. But seriously, the classic vanilla and chocolate combination can never go wrong! With these, the bittersweet cacao really complemented the coconutty-vanilla layer. These are also quite dense and flavoursome so you'll find that eating just one small portion is enough to satisfy your afternoon sugar cravings. 

Apologies for the poor photo quality from my instagram, if I ever get around to making another batch of these I'll be sure to take a much better photo.

Ingredients

Shortbread base:

1 cup vanilla protein powder 

4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

2 tablespoons honey

Cacao base:

1/2 cup cacao powder

1/2 cup chocolate protein powder (or replace with cacao powder)

4 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

2 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon peanut butter (I used chocolate PB2)

Note: If you're having trouble combining the dry ingredients with the wet, adjust quantities as needed (i.e add extra drops of coconut oil/honey etc) until you get a dough-like consistency that you can work with.

Method

1. Line a rectangular dish with baking paper. Combine shortbread base ingredients in a bowl and press into the dish. Pop into the freezer.

2. Melt the cacao/chocolate protein powder with the coconut oil and stir together. Add the honey and peanut butter, ensuring the mixture is completely smooth.

3. Depending on the consistency of your cacao mixture, press or pour this over the shortbread base. (Try to work quickly because once the cacao mixture hits the cold edges of the rectangular dish it hardens almost instantaneously).

4. Refrigerate for at least an hour before slicing!