I have been on a bit of a protein crisp bender as of late. Since discovering them recently (and discovering that soy protein has a low FODMAP threshold) I have been hooked. Although they are delicious in my protein crisp bars, I wanted to make something even easier. Enter: protein crisp chocolate.
The idea behind this recipe is not to make chocolate ‘healthier’ (whatever that means). It is to make my daily sweet treat more filling and to hit my protein goals without counting calories. This recipe can contain approximately 5.25g protein per piece, which is not too shabby for a piece of chocolate.
Of course, I wouldn’t make it on repeat if it didn’t taste good. Luckily it tastes absolutely delicious – like biscuit pieces in chocolate. Two ingredients and endlessly customisable: let’s get straight into it.
Dietary notes
I have tested this recipe with dairy free chocolate, soy protein crisps, dairy chocolate and whey protein crisps. This recipe is super customisable based on what you have on hand and your own dietaries. You can also use pumpkin seeds or even nuts instead (see the section below).
In Australia where I am based, the main varieties of protein crisps (soy and whey) are both gluten free. The whey protein crisps from Coles are made with tapioca flour, meaning they are gluten free and grain free.
You can choose any sort of chocolate you like here. Milk, flavoured, 100% cacao – anything goes. I will note that the higher the chocolate percentage, the stiffer the chocolate can be (so it might take less protein crisps). It is quite hard to go wrong though.
In terms of whether they are low FODMAP, the jury is out. Monash doesn’t have an entry specifically for soy protein. FODMAP Friendly says that soy protein isolate is low FODMAP in serves of up to 67g. The soy protein crisps I am using are made of 60% soy protein isolate. This means there is approximately 40g soy protein isolate in a 67g serve of the cereal. With that in mind, you can hypothetically eat up to 111g of soy protein crisps to eat 67g of soy protein isolate total. Of course, assess your own tolerances.
Tips for this recipe
There is not much to this recipe, but my main tip is in regard to portioning it out. Of course, you can just throw caution to the wind and snap the solid protein crisp chocolate into pieces. However, there is a way to ensure you get 8 equal serves.
Firstly, you can use a blunt knife to make significant scores or even slice the chocolate while the top sheet of baking paper is still on top. This means less mess and you lose less chocolate, but just try not to cut through the baking paper or it might get a bit messier.
Secondly, you can chill the chocolate until it is nearly solid and then either slice or score it into 8 portions. This version is slightly more hands on in the sense that you have to keep an eye on the chocolate and slice it at the right moment as it sets.
Finally, you can simply divide the chocolate into 8-10 individual serves to begin with. You can roll them out, place them in silicon muffin liners and compact them down – whatever suits and is easiest. I have successfully made the recipe in silicone muffin liners. I recommend dividing it up and then using a slightly oiled flat bottomed glass to compact everything down. It helps to press down and then spin the glass around while compressing to get a clean lift without picking up any soy crisps.
What sort of chocolate can I use?
I have well and truly put this recipe through its paces. I have tested milk chocolate, white chocolate, sugar free chocolate, 80%+ dark chocolate – the whole lot. They all work really well!
Another thing I tested? Vegan chocolate. In fact, I went all out and tested Pico vegan sugar free dark chocolate. It worked beautifully!
I have not tested any homemade chocolates or coconut oil based chocolates. This is a recipe for a bar of chocolate and not a homemade crackle type scenario. I might post one of those in the future, but for now I recommend a store bought bar of chocolate.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the white chocolate version but my favourite was the 70% dark chocolate. This isn’t surprising really, given that is my favourite variety of chocolate.
I do have some advice, though: the more mix-ins you add, the sweeter your chocolate needs to be. Not excessively sweet, but I have found that a high mix-in version with a low-sugar chocolate starts to taste a bit savoury. If you are planning to do protein crisps + some chia and seeds, I would recommend something more like a Lindt sea salt chocolate as opposed to a Lindt 70% chocolate.
I can’t have soy. What else can I use?
I have been tinkering with this recipe because I eat it every day right now. I have discovered that you can easily replace the soy crisps with pumpkin seeds substituting by weight (60g of soy crisps becomes 60g pumpkin seeds).
In my experience, you can actually use more seeds than protein crisps because of their size and shape. You could use up to 100g pumpkin seeds (or more, pending your tolerance for risk).
Pumpkin seeds are not as high protein as soy crisps but they are nutrient dense and a good source of fibre.
Mix-in notes
This recipe is very amenable to mix-ins but there are some limits. I have successfully tested 60g protein crisps, 60g pumpkin seeds and 30g chia seeds in a single batch. It worked really well and bumps up the fibre/nutrition content of the recipe.
Another thing I have tested is a full 150g protein crisps which did not work well. There was not enough chocolate to glue everything together and it crumbled as I tried to slice it. Because of the shape of protein crisps, I recommend capping them at 60g (up to 100g max) here.
So, you can get away with adding compact seeds and nuts (I have also added chopped peanuts) more than you can with protein crisps.
I have tested adding a full 150g seed and chopped peanuts to the mix (with no protein crisps) and that also worked really well.
Feel free to experiment and see what works for you but I don’t recommend overdoing the mix-ins beyond what I have listed in this section. Worst comes to worst you can melt more chocolate and incorporate that into the mix (or use it as a sweet topper or a quasi-cocoa pop situation).
More high protein recipes
- High protein Ninja Creami recipe
- Gluten free high protein bread
- Chocolate protein blended chia pudding
- Gluten free cottage cheese pancakes
- High protein Ninja Creami, 5 ways
Protein crisp chocolate
Ingredients
- 100 g chocolate of your choice (I prefer 70% dark chocolate)
- 60 – 100g protein crisps (I have tested soy protein crisps and whey protein crisps – I prefer soy but both work) see notes in body of post before using the higher amount
Instructions
- Place your chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a small pot of water 1/4 full. Cook over a medium heat until the chocolate has completely melted.
- Add the protein crisps and stir until they are completely coated and an even chocolate-coloured consistency.
- Use a silicone spatula to get all of the mixture out onto a piece of baking paper. Place another sheet on top.
- Use a rolling pin to compact and even out the mixture between the sheets of baking paper. You can just eyeball the size, but I prefer to use my Lindt paper packaging to roll mine out into a rectangle 20cm long and 10cm wide. This way I get evenly sized pieces of protein crisp chocolate.
- To do this, I fold in the edges of the baking paper to create a snug little 'packet' of chocolate the same size as the Lindt packaging. I then flip it over so the seams are against the counter and use my rolling pin firmly press the mixture out to all the edges. Think of making a butter packet for laminated pastry.
- Score the protein crisp chocolate into 8-10 pieces using a blunt knife. Don't cut all the way through but score well enough that you will be able to snap the bar into even pieces once it is has chilled.
- Place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to completely set. Snap into pieces and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
- This recipe doesn’t temper the chocolate so it will melt in heat. I recommend keeping this snack in the fridge.
- I have added up to 30g black chia seeds to the mix and it worked really well. You can experiment with adding mix-ins as you see fit. Don’t push it too far though or your bar will no longer hold together. See the mix-ins section in the body of the post.
- If you cannot have soy, you can experiment with whey protein crisps or use pumpkin seeds instead.
- You could potentially squeeze up to 100g protein crisps into this mixture as long as your chocolate can glue them all together. See the notes in the body of the post.
- If you divide your mixture evenly into 8 pieces, each piece contains approximately 5.25g protein.
- This is not a low calorie or macro counted recipe. It is just an easy way to get a bit of protein in while still eating something delicious.
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