Pretend Pegan Protein Bars (Chocolate Lava)
Years ago, when I first joined the Facebook group Vegan Keto Made Simple, there was a very popular brand of protein bars made by Julian Bakery. These bars have since been discontinued. One reason for these bars' popularity was their extremely low net carb content - 1g net carbs and 20g protein per bar. While I do not possess the wizardry of the food industry when it comes to disappearing digestible carbs, I have managed to create a "bar" that, to my memory, is similar in taste and texture (see notes) to Julian Bakery's Chocolate Lava Pegan Thins. Two of my pucks, the rough equivalent of a bar, have only 3g net carbs per 20g protein. My version is also a bit more caloric (and likely more nutritious). If curious to know the macros and ingredient list of the original bars, I have put a photo of the product's packaging below the recipe.
For those who used to enjoy Pegan bars, I hope my recreation brings the pleasure and convenience of Pegan bars back into your life. For those who never had a Pegan bar, this is your chance! However, please be advised that these bars are very much a "protein bar" and may not be to everyone's taste. After all, the main ingredient is a protein-rich powder, which is evident in the final product. This is the unfortunate tradeoff when it comes to making a bar very high in protein while also very low in net carbs. Pro tip - these bars were often most enjoyed briefly heated in the microwave or under a warm thigh while driving to work, and sometimes toppings such as nut butter, berries, or keto-friendly jam were added to the bars to optimize flavor.
For those who used to enjoy Pegan bars, I hope my recreation brings the pleasure and convenience of Pegan bars back into your life. For those who never had a Pegan bar, this is your chance! However, please be advised that these bars are very much a "protein bar" and may not be to everyone's taste. After all, the main ingredient is a protein-rich powder, which is evident in the final product. This is the unfortunate tradeoff when it comes to making a bar very high in protein while also very low in net carbs. Pro tip - these bars were often most enjoyed briefly heated in the microwave or under a warm thigh while driving to work, and sometimes toppings such as nut butter, berries, or keto-friendly jam were added to the bars to optimize flavor.
Yield: 3 servings of 2 pucks each, totaling 6 pucks ✎
Macros (per serving): 250 calories | 20g protein | 14g fat | 3g net carbs
Prep: 20 minutes | Cool: 20 minutes
Storage: at room temperature for 7 days. See note about change in texture over time. If stacking in a storage container, separate with pieces of parchment to prevent pucks from sticking together. ✎
Macros (per serving): 250 calories | 20g protein | 14g fat | 3g net carbs
Prep: 20 minutes | Cool: 20 minutes
Storage: at room temperature for 7 days. See note about change in texture over time. If stacking in a storage container, separate with pieces of parchment to prevent pucks from sticking together. ✎
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated allulose ✎
- 1 teaspoon water
- 1 teaspoon sugar-free vanilla extract (optional)
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon (20g) thick sugar-free maple syrup or "honey" ✎
- ¼ cup (64g) unsweetened sunflower seed butter (aka Sunbutter) ✎
- ½ cup (56g) plain pea or soy protein powder or sacha inchi powder ✎
- 3 tablespoons (16g) unsweetened cocoa/cacao powder
Directions:
- Put the allulose, water, vanilla extract, and salt in a small microwave-safe mixing bowl. Microwave for 45 seconds. Pause to whisk after 20ish seconds. Monitor to make sure it doesn't bubble over. The contents of the bowl will be scalding hot, so be careful. Transfer to the fridge to cool for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Add the sunflower seed butter and syrup to the allulose mixture and whisk until smooth.
- Add the cocoa powder and protein powder and mix with a stiff silicone spatula or spoon until no dry patches remain. The dough will be quite thick.
- Form the dough into 6 pucks (35g each) about ⅜-inch (1cm) thick. I use a 2⅜-inch (6cm) ring mold and pusher for this. See the picture below for clarity. You can also form 3 bars (70g each), or form one large square or rectangle and cut it into 3 or 6 bars. You can use your hands or a rolling pin for this.
- Place the pucks on a flat tray, pan, or cutting board and allow to cool and set for about 20 minutes. See note about changes in texture over time. ✎
- Enjoy at room temperature or breifly heated in the microwave (about 10 seconds).
✎ Notes:
- Feel free to double, triple, or quadruple the recipe if you find you like these bars and will eat them often. However, I suggest making a single batch the first time around as you might find they are too protein powdery for your tastes. Also, the texture will change over time, which is explained in the following bullet point.
- Allulose melts into a syrup, but then over time, it returns to it's hardened form. What this means here is that your pucks/bars will start out quite soft and pliable (more pliable than a typical protein bar) and become firmer over time. I initially made these bars without any storebought syrup (only the microwave allulose mixture) and they became quite hard and dry after 2-3 days. The addition of the thick syrup keeps them pliable. However, this also means they start off seeming a little overly soft for a "bar" and become progressively more bar textured depending on how long they are stored. After a number of days, they do become rather dry, but 10 seconds in the microwave softens them up some. Too long in the microwave will dry them out and make them taste burnt. Only microwave them when ready to eat because they will dry out as they cool. See more about the sweeteners used in the following 2 bullet points.
- I have tried making this recipe with erythritol-based granulated sweetener and it did not work out at all. The result was just a bowl full of powdery crumble. I suspect this recipe would also work with BochaSweet as it behaves similarly to allulose. It likely wouldn't work with xylitol, which behaves similarly to erythritol. It definitely would not work with pure monk fruit or stevia. If you try the recipe with BochaSweet or another sweetner and it works out, please let us know. I plan to try the recipe with other sweeteners/syrups in the future and will update this recipe page as needed.
- For syrup, I am using ChocZero maple syrup, which is very thick and contains no water in the ingredient list. The main ingredient is resistent dextrin. The original Julian Bakery bars contain soluble tapioca fiber, which is a resistent dextrin syrup. I can't get soluble tapioca fiber where I live and so was not able to try it in this recipe and the ChocZero syrup is my chosen alternative. Some keto syrups are very watery and I don't know how this would impact the recipe, or the texture after a few days of storage.
- The original Julian Bakery bars use sunflower seed butter. Sunflower seed butter, or the brand Sunbutter specifically, is very low in net carbs and high in protein. I have not tried this recipe with other nut/seed butters, but I suspect it would work out fine. In other recipes, I have found that peanut butter has the most similar cosistency and structural qualities to Sunbutter, whereas almond butter tends to be stickier and tanini thinner.
- I have made this recipe with both sacha inchi powder (this was in the original bars) and plain pea protein powder. The sacha inchi powder is a bit nicer in flavor, but it is also much more expensive and higher in carbs (depending on your protein powder). Macros are calculated with protein powder. I think defatted peanut flour (aka peanut butter powder) would also be tasty in this recipe. However, using this would also impact the macros. Flavored protein powder could be used, but for my taste, this might make for extremely sweet bars.
- The pictured bars were a first attempt without any syrup and their drier looking texture is a result of this. With the syrup the bars are smoother, shinnier, and darker than the ones pictured.
- Macros for this recipes are calculated with American national nutritional data (i.e. NCCDB & USDA entries in Cronometer) for all ingredients apart from the allulose (Health Garden), maple syrup (ChocZero) sunflower seed butter (Sunbutter), and protein powder (Now Foods plain pea).
- Macro numbers are rounded. Numbers equal to or greater than 10g are rounded to the nearest whole number (e.g. 10g, 11g, 12g, etc.) and numbers below 10g are rounded to the nearest 0.5g (0.5g, 1g, 1.5g ... 9g, 9.5g). Any numbers below 0.5g are given as is (e.g. 0.1g, 0.2g, etc.). Calories are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5.