Version 2.0 Gluten Free Vegan Protein Bars

Geez, Chef, this doesn't look like a bar.  Yeah, yeah, I know... This is just a tester.  Some things had changed with this version...  I think this is going to be the final version.

I decided to try cranberries in this one instead of the coconut that was seen in the last one.  I also omitted the Almond Butter - I just couldn't get past the aftertaste.  I found a Vegan 'butter' that claims to be 'best for baking', so I decided to put it to the test, made by Earth Balance.  Link provided below.  I absolutely love butter, so I went into this thinking that I was not going to like the final result.  Many margarine products don't work well with baking.  I really don't like margarine in general.  In essence, vegan butter is really just a fancy word for margarine, except for that there are a lot of margarine products that may contain dairy.  Since I've never worked with this product before, I figured that it would be a good idea to try it since it was on sale at the grocery store.  It also turns out that our supplier carries this product in bulk and it's not REMOTE STOCK or DEMAND STATUS.  So, hey, let's try it.  We only live once, right?  

At first glance of the Earth Balance product, it doesn't have a pretty color.  I tasted it and by its self, it was rather...  weird.  Then again, I think that Paula Deen is my spirit animal in a way, because I have a love affair with butter.  Baked goods need fat of some sort in order for the product to not resemble sawdust and cardboard with flavor additives.  

I was pleasantly surprised with the end result.  So, Earth Balance -- definitely a winner.  I'll save the almond butter for something else; perhaps a paperweight on my desk as a reminder that I should never go all out almond butter again.  

The other thing that I changed with version 2.0 is that I backed off the Coconut sugar by half, and substituted the remainder with Erythritol, and cut back a little bit on the Maple Syrup.  As luck would have it, our food rep accidentally shipped us bulk Erythritol about a month or so ago instead of packets of Splenda.  We couldn't return it because it was a 'remote stock' item, so I bought the case from my employer.  Thankfully I did, because the one bag of Erythritol that I bought from the grocery store to fine tune version 2.0 was freaking expensive. 

I had these ready for a business meeting last week.  I literally watched my boss's eyes roll into the back of his head when he tried one.  

Again, these are protein packed with Univera Protein Shake mix.  I ran a poll on Facebook asking people if they would try a protein bar that also contained cricket powder or cricket flour.  Yes, I said crickets.  Bugs.  Bugs that are bred specifically for food source - more sustainable and eco-friendly, their footprint takes up far less than cattle.

Granted, crickets would NOT conform to Vegan lifestyle...  So, the question is, would you eat a protein bar that contained cricket flour?  There are two days left in the poll:  33% so far have said YES, while the majority say NO.  

Being a Chef means that I am going to try an alternative protein bar with cricket flour in the very near future.  I gotta get over this flu bug that I am suffering from first.  I have never cooked with crickets before, but I am willing to try them.  So, keep an eye out for that blog post, coming soon.

In the meantime, here's some links related to this post:

Earth Balance Vegan Butter
My Univera Page
Cricket Flours