Chocolate Orange Protein Fudge Bars

Yeah, seriously!!

Tastes amazing? PROTEINGASMIC.

Great dose of protein and fibre and... where's the fat???
Free of gluten and nuts. Also suitable if you're on a low fructose diet.

Macros and nutritional profile all included ... with and without the awesome vanilla cinnamon casein cream.

Chocolate Orange Protein Fudge Bars | Chocolate Chilli Mango

Lab and taste tested ... hope you all like them.

Have you tried them or made them yourself?

Sounds amazing, where do you get the quark and unsweetened cacao and cacao nibs from tho?

pistachio said:

Have you tried them or made them yourself?

Sounds amazing, where do you get the quark and unsweetened cacao and cacao nibs from tho?

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Hi, it's my recipe! So yep, made them and have been scoffing it all day...

it's so much better than I imagined - very chocolatey and very intense orange flavour. Really good. I create and post a lot of protein recipes on my site.
The quark is available at a lot of delis but definitely at organic stores and sometimes supermarkets. I usually buy Elgaar Organics quark as it's < 0.1% fat and tastes awesome (really good with berries too). If you can't find it, use a low fat cottage cheese or ricotta.
Unsweetened raw cacao is available at most health food and organic shops and online stores. Good brands are Loving Earth and Cacao Gold.
Cacao nibs also available at health food and organic stores and at Prof Whey.

hope that helps! It really is fantastic. I've been experimenting on this one for a week to get it perfect booyeah....

Oh right, didn't notice it was your site.

Thanks for the info, I'm quite keen to try this.

Curious though, wouldn't it taste even more chocolatey if you used chocolate protein powder instead of plain? Also thinking of maybe vanilla casein powder instead of unflavoured?

pistachio said:

Oh right, didn't notice it was your site.

Thanks for the info, I'm quite keen to try this.

Curious though, wouldn't it taste even more chocolatey if you used chocolate protein powder instead of plain? Also thinking of maybe vanilla casein powder instead of unflavoured?

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Yep you can do that. I don't because I like my protein without all the crap that's in the flavoured stuff. no gums, artificial sweeteners etc.
but use whatever you like. i actually state in the recipe that if you use vanilla casein you might not need to add anything else except cinnamon because it's usually sweet etc anyway. it's all good, whatever works for you.
I put together my recipes to be as whole food oriented as possible.

on choc protein powder...the choc flavour is not usually really chocolatey. won't add much to the intense choc flavour. Trust me, I eat 100% cacao chocolate all the time as a preference...this is very very chocolatey!!!
)

chocchillimango said:

Yep you can do that. I don't because I like my protein without all the crap that's in the flavoured stuff. no gums, artificial sweeteners etc.
but use whatever you like. i actually state in the recipe that if you use vanilla casein you might not need to add anything else except cinnamon because it's usually sweet etc anyway. it's all good, whatever works for you.
I put together my recipes to be as whole food oriented as possible.

on choc protein powder...the choc flavour is not usually really chocolatey. won't add much to the intense choc flavour. Trust me, I eat 100% cacao chocolate all the time as a preference...this is very very chocolatey!!!
)

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Ok, I am definitely going to try this.

Just wanted to confirm a few more things...

- Is that the cheapest you can get the cacao? Seems pretty pricey! Can you just use ordinary cocoa? Is there any difference?
- Can you use a regular orange instead of a blood orange? I've never even seen a blood orange lol
- The 100g cannellini beans, is that canned weight or drained weight?
- What's the difference between maple syrup and honey?
- Still haven't found the quark, but will keep looking!

I'm hoping to make these over the weekend

Hey there! I actually answer some of those Q in the post/recipe!! OK here goes, in order:

- look for raw cacao in discount health stores. It's very readily available in Australia, promise! You can use ordinary cacao. I actually used Valrhona (very expensive but I make cakes, chocs and desserts too so ... ). A plain cacao should be available pretty much anywhere. Just be careful not get drinking choc or anything with loads of sugar added. Good supermarkets, delis etc.
In WA you can find Gold Cacao at http://www.govita.com.au/store.php?postcode=6000 and direct from Power Superfoods: http://www.powersuperfoods.com.au/find-us/
You can also get Loving Earth cacao at all these places in WA: http://raw-chocolate.net/stockists

- Any orange would do...strange you don't have blood oranges in Perth (tip: don't buy your fresh produce in the supermarket ). But any orange is good.
- drained weight for the beans definitely.
- you can use honey if you prefer that...it will make it sweeter still. I can't use honey as it's very high in fructose (maple syrup has more glucose than fructose). You can use either. I used maple because a) i can, b) I like the mapley flavour and c) it's got about 65g carbs per 100g c.f. sugar at 100g.
- don't worry about the quark!! You can use low fat cottage cheese (not the knobbly one, the smooth one..supermarkets have it) or a fresh low fat ricotta. All good.

Let me know how it goes!! Got lots of people excited over this. Just had my last piece for breakfast before my workout...with fruit and yoghurt. Awesome.

chocchillimango said:

Hey there! I actually answer some of those Q in the post/recipe!! OK here goes, in order:

- look for raw cacao in discount health stores. It's very readily available in Australia, promise! You can use ordinary cacao. I actually used Valrhona (very expensive but I make cakes, chocs and desserts too so ... ). A plain cacao should be available pretty much anywhere. Just be careful not get drinking choc or anything with loads of sugar added. Good supermarkets, delis etc.
In WA you can find Gold Cacao at Go Vita - Your Health Shop and direct from Power Superfoods: Find Us
You can also get Loving Earth cacao at all these places in WA: Loving Earth - Stockists

- Any orange would do...strange you don't have blood oranges in Perth (tip: don't buy your fresh produce in the supermarket ). But any orange is good.
- drained weight for the beans definitely.
- you can use honey if you prefer that...it will make it sweeter still. I can't use honey as it's very high in fructose (maple syrup has more glucose than fructose). You can use either. I used maple because a) i can, b) I like the mapley flavour and c) it's got about 65g carbs per 100g c.f. sugar at 100g.
- don't worry about the quark!! You can use low fat cottage cheese (not the knobbly one, the smooth one..supermarkets have it) or a fresh low fat ricotta. All good.

Let me know how it goes!! Got lots of people excited over this. Just had my last piece for breakfast before my workout...with fruit and yoghurt. Awesome.

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Thanks for the detailed answer.

That second link you gave me offers free shipping and a 10% discount, so works out quite a bit cheaper for the cacao. I'll shop around near me, but I suspect it'll be even more costly at the shops.

Just another quick question regarding the cacao, whats the difference between the loving earth cacao and the other ones? It is a lot cheaper, and has a very different nutritional profile, whereas the Power Super Foods and the Professional Whey cacaos have identical nutritionals. So the loving food brand is obviously something different, just not sure how its different??

Yup will do, hopefully I get the cacao before the weekend though, not sure how long the shipping will take. Unless I find it in a shop for about the same price, in which case I'll just grab it there.

Cheers

Cacao can change its nutritional profile depending on the bean origin and how it's grown etc. Much like anything else I guess. I have used Loving Earth quite a lot and I do love their other products BUT I have to say the Gold / Power Superfoods is better. The cacao is more intense and darker/richer in colour. I prefer it...it's much more similar to the cacao I use for other desserts etc. I'd go the Gold/Power one if you can. The only benefit of getting raw over "garden variety" is that it has the benefit of all the antioxidants. Processed cacao still has some but the processing does strip some of them out. (sorry, I'm a cacao/chocolate freak).
I agree, getting them direct seems much cheaper. We've got Great Earth Health Shops here in Melb that sell the Gold at a good price so I sometimes get it there. You might actually find it where you get your protein powders.
Try looking up www.completeheath.com.au as well. Their prices are pretty good too. Forgot to add them earlier.
Cheers - let me know how they turn out!

chocchillimango said:

Cacao can change its nutritional profile depending on the bean origin and how it's grown etc. Much like anything else I guess. I have used Loving Earth quite a lot and I do love their other products BUT I have to say the Gold / Power Superfoods is better. The cacao is more intense and darker/richer in colour. I prefer it...it's much more similar to the cacao I use for other desserts etc. I'd go the Gold/Power one if you can. The only benefit of getting raw over "garden variety" is that it has the benefit of all the antioxidants. Processed cacao still has some but the processing does strip some of them out. (sorry, I'm a cacao/chocolate freak).
I agree, getting them direct seems much cheaper. We've got Great Earth Health Shops here in Melb that sell the Gold at a good price so I sometimes get it there. You might actually find it where you get your protein powders.
Try looking up www.completeheath.com.au as well. Their prices are pretty good too. Forgot to add them earlier.
Cheers - let me know how they turn out!

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Last question I promise

I have nearly everything, but I realised I don't know where to get vanilla bean paste from (and it seems to be another pricey ingredient from what I've read on the net).

Can you just use vanilla essence? If so how much? If not, where can I get the vanilla bean paste from for a decent price?

I'll probably buy a bit, as I have over a kilo of the cacao powder coming, so I will probably be making quite a few batches of these bars lol.

You are seriously awesome! Use vanilla essence just double the amount in the recipe as it's not as strong ... You can even just scrape out the seeds of a vanilla bean.

you can get vanilla bean paste and vanilla beans at Coles/Woolies in the baking section (OMG don't go there ...LOL). Where the baking powder and stuff is. The Queen one is probably the cheapest. Pure vanilla is expensive because it's expensive to make so the stuff I buy would probably freak you out. One of the best ones comes from a new zealand company who sell their vanilla here pretty widely: Western Australia | Heilala Vanilla - Reunion Food Company

There's even vanilla powder that's often used to flavour protein powders. Professional Whey sell it and the price looks pretty good considering the cost of vanilla generally. Not sure who else might sell it. I've not tried it but I suspect you could add about 1/2 tsp as it's likely to be quite concentrated. I prefer to see specks of vanilla :-D

I just made the most awesome banana raspberry protein pancakes... have to make again, take pics and post recipe. Wow factor in the extreme range. )

Thanks for that. I'll probably experiment a bit with these, substituting different ingredients and see how they come out.

It is the texture I am most impressed with, looks amazing in the pic.

Do you reckon whole eggs would work instead of egg white? I pretty much bought everything as per the recipe, but prefer to use whole eggs where I can.

EDIT: Just found out my mum picked up the queens bean paste, $10 for 65g (they didn't have the 320g tub) That is only going to make about 3 batches, these bars are going to be expensive lol.

The imitation vanilla essense was around $1.50 for 200ml, might try that next time see if there is much difference.

As good as these bars sound, I don't want them to break the bank lol, I'm already forking out on the cacao powder (and nibs). I don't mind paying for the cacao though, apparently it is very, very good for you, so I'm interested to give it a taste test.

Whole eggs will probably make it even better. I would normally use whole eggs too but just wanted to see if it would still have the right texture. So go ahead and use the eggs.
For the record, I always aim to get the pics true to life so I can showcase the end result as it really turns out...I'm no photographer so just do my best to capture the food and do it justice. The texture is great.

You don't need the vanilla in the actual bar...the orange is the star here.
And for the cream, use some grated orange zest and a little juice along with the cinnamon instead of vanilla. Hey presto, it's even better. And cheaper. That's what I did for the second batch of casein cream.
You don't really need the nibs but they are good. Yeah, there is no bad in good chocolate.
You might be interested in a company that just launched here a few weeks ago and is based in Perth. Crio Bru .. check out their site. I just got the Coca River and it's amazing. Crio Brü and Crio Beans are Rich in Antioxidants, Minerals and Natural Energy - Healthy Chocolate for Healthy Living

Enjoy

chocchillimango said:

Whole eggs will probably make it even better. I would normally use whole eggs too but just wanted to see if it would still have the right texture. So go ahead and use the eggs.
For the record, I always aim to get the pics true to life so I can showcase the end result as it really turns out...I'm no photographer so just do my best to capture the food and do it justice. The texture is great.

You don't need the vanilla in the actual bar...the orange is the star here.
And for the cream, use some grated orange zest and a little juice along with the cinnamon instead of vanilla. Hey presto, it's even better. And cheaper. That's what I did for the second batch of casein cream.
You don't really need the nibs but they are good. Yeah, there is no bad in good chocolate.
You might be interested in a company that just launched here a few weeks ago and is based in Perth. Crio Bru .. check out their site. I just got the Coca River and it's amazing. Crio Brü and Crio Beans are Rich in Antioxidants, Minerals and Natural Energy - Healthy Chocolate for Healthy Living

Enjoy

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Excellent

I'll use the egg whites for this batch, but I'll just try using 3-4 whole eggs next time (sound about right?)

I've already got the paste for this batch (and a few more), but I'll mix it up next time. I might get some vanilla flavoured casein for the cream and just use that, or either use the vanilla essence in the bar, or just leave it out as you suggested.

My order of cacao still hasn't shipped unfortunately. And they only ship mon/wed/fri, so looks like I might not get that by the weekend

just get ordinary cacao from the supermarket for this batch..still good....
if using large eggs around 60g or more, then 2 eggs will do it.

go you!

looks nice

I will have to try it, Ill leave the cream off, because I dont have any casein....

I dropped into a health shop today to look for the powdered cacao and found the gold brand $13 for 250g or $32 for a 1kg bag but a different brand.

if I'm too lazy to mix the casein, I just top it with yoghurt or almond butter. or have it on its own..all good

Well I might try they yogurt because I always have yoghurt, I have never purchased casein before or pea whey...

Got the cacao powder today (and the cacao nibs). Looking forward to making these on the weekend! Will post up some pics when I do.