Sweet Potato Protein Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar (Low Carb)

Well hello there my sweet friend :).  For the past few months I’ve been obsessed with making my own protein breakfast bars—and these Sweet Potato Protein Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are one of my fave concoctions!  I’m sure you’re wondering where I got the idea to use a sweet potato, right?  Honestly, I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner because I love the sweet potato dishes with all the yummy sweetness in em’ (like my Paleo Sweet Potato Souffle) during the holidays. 

I first stumbled on a sweet potato brownie recipe over at PaleOMG and they came out so good.  Right after that was when I started playing around with sweet potatoes for desserts more regularly.  I’d been making my own protein bars on occasion, because let’s face it they’re easy to eat on-the-go in the mornings.  But a lot of the recipes were either higher in fat—calling for almond flour, coconut oil, etc.—or higher in carbohydrates. 

Well, I’d already been suspicious my body couldn’t handle heavy amounts of extra fat each day back when I experimented with Bullet Proof coffee every morning for a month.  So eating higher fat breakfast bars every morning basically proved my theory to be true.  I can handle some fat every day, but not a lot or I’ll gain weight.  Same goes for my carbs.  I simply love how I feel and look so much better when I’m not overdoing them.  So, I fell in love with the idea of using sweet potatoes instead of all that coconut oil. 

Obviously, sweet potatoes are rocking the dessert world.  Plus they’re a good source of vitamin A and dietary fiber.  And even though they do have some sugar in them, it really isn’t all that much—especially when I’m getting 6-8 servings out of 1 large sweet potato in these cookie bars. 

It’s also fun to play around the ingredients, like sometimes I’ll take out the peanut butter and sub almond or cashew butter instead and then add organic pumpkin with all those flavorful pumpkin pie spices.  And other times, I’ll sub Coconut Manna for the nut butter and get it all coconut-ty.  Sometimes I’ll do half peanut butter, half manna—oh yes, those go together just perfect.  Total Yum! 

I’ll be putting together a video showing you how I make this and will go over some of my variations. 

But for now, let’s get moving on making the tastiest Sweet Potato Protein Chocolate Chip Cookie Bar!  🙂

What You Need:

1 Organic Sweet Potato (I prefer using the white ones, but the orange-colored ones work ok too), baked and cooled. 

1/2 cup Organic Monk Fruit.  Sub coconut palm sugar for Paleo.  Adjust up or down as needed for more or less sweetness

Optional: You may need 1-2 tbsp of nut milk of choice if batter is too dry.  It should be a little thick, but not hard.  I typically do not need to use this step. 

What You Do:

Preheat oven to 350.  Get your blender or handheld out. ( I prefer handheld for this).  Throw your cooled sweet potato along with all the other ingredients except the chocolate chips and coconut flakes (if you’re using them) in your blender or bowl and mix until creamy.  If it’s too thick, add the nut milk and give it a final blend. 

Using a large spoon or spatula, fold in the chocolate chips and unsweetened coconut flakes. * It’s critical your sweet potato is fully cooled or it will melt your chocolate chips. 

Grease an 8×8 baking dish and scoop in the mixture, then gently spread it around evenly.  Sometimes I’ll top it with a sprinkle of monk fruit and more unsweetened coconut flakes.  Bake for around 37 minutes or until the middle doesn’t stick to a knife.  The top should have a golden brown hue.  Let it cool for at least an hour and then slice into servings—I usually get 8 servings for me and my hubby’s breakfasts that week.  Nom, nom, nom! 

I prefer to store it in the fridge and enjoy eating it cold. 

Do you love sweet potato dessert recipes?  I’d love to hear some of your faves in the comments!  🙂