Chocolate Puffed Amaranth Bars

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Chocolate Puffed Amaranth Bars are a perfect vegan, gluten-free, and a healthy snack or protein bar perfect for your mid-morning or evening snack. These bars are no-bake and sugar-free. I.e. it does not contain any form of white or processed sugar. 

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What is Amaranth

Amaranth also called Rajgira in Hindi is a gluten-free grain. It has been commonly used in Asian Cuisine and especially in India for years. It is one of the grains which is allowed and consumed during the fasting/vrat/upvas days in India.

Amaranth is rich in protein, fibre, and other nutrients. It may aid in weight loss due to its high fibre and protein cooked. It is easy to cook and can be added to a variety of dishes. Rajgira or Amaranth chiiki or laddu is a very common snack in India. Rajgira Paratha, pakoda, kadhi (Recipe coming up next month), and pancakes are other common recipes using Amaranth.

How to cook Amaranth 

Rajgira or Amaranth grain needs to be cooked before. One can either soak or sprout it which helps in easier digestion. Another option is to pop or puff the Amaranth grains and use them to make different recipes. The puffed-up Amaranth grains can be then milled to form flour.  Flour can be used in different recipes. The flour also acts as a thickener in soups or stews.

Puffed up Amaranth can be added to smoothies or your fruit bowls. Porridge and bread are other healthier breakfast options using Amaranth. Amaranth can easily be puffed up at home. Once puffed, the flour can be at home.

Ingredients used in Today’s recipe of Chocolate Puffed Amaranth Bars

The first main Ingredient is Amaranth, which is naturally gluten-free and I have already detailed it above.

The second ingredient used in the recipe is Cocoa Powder. I have added cocoa powder here to add to the chocolate taste as well as appeal to my kids. Anything with chocolate always is a win-win for me and my kids. Try to use raw cacao powder or organic cocoa powder.

To add sweetness to these bars, I have used Soft Dates. Dates have natural sugar in them. They are a rich source of fibre and are also a rich source of carbs and hence high in calories. Growing kids need the required carbs and hence it is good to add it in natural sugar form. People who cannot eat sugar or who are on their weight loss journey can eat these bars but in moderation.

The next ingredient is Dried Cranberries. The cranberry adds a nice crunch as well as a little bit of tart as well as sweet flavour to the bars. Again this is a rich source of carbs and fibre.

Next is Pumpkin and Flax Seeds which are tiny seeds packed with healthy fats and nutrients. They are called superfoods.  Flax Seeds are rich in dietary fibre and help in gut health. Regular consumption of flax and pumpkin seeds also helps in regulating blood sugar levels. Hence it is a good idea to add them with Dates in this recipe. 

It is best to consume these Flax Seeds in powder form rather than whole seeds. Pumpkin and Flax Seeds can be topped up in your salads or smoothie bowls. Pumpkin seeds can be either eaten raw or roasted and consumed salted or unsalted. 

Coconut Oil is used to provide the necessary binding. It also adds to the fat content of the recipe. One can use any flavourless oil if required.

Lastly, I added Almond Flakes. I added it for crunch as well as for the fat content. The other reason was also to give some nice contrasting colours to my bars. 

I have added a tiny bit of salt for taste and drizzled the bars with melted Dark Chocolate. Chocolate is purely for decoration and completely optional.

Chocolate, Millet & Energy Bite Recipes

I like to add chocolate or cocoa powder in many of my healthy recipes. As said earlier it is appealing to the kids. So as in my recipe for this Beetroot and Dates Energy bites where I have added some cocoa powder. It is healthy with beetroot and is again sugar-free.

Then this No-Bake Chocolate Weetabix Energy Slice is healthy and delicious after school snacks or treats. If you are looking for more such recipes, you can try this Dates & Nuts Energy bites (With oats) or this Sugarfree Khajoor roll or Sugarless Ragi Ladoos 

This Egg-less, Butter-less, chocolate Ragi Brownie incorporates the millet, that is Ragi flour and cocoa powder and this is a healthy and filling smoothie that has the goodness of Ragi, Banana and Dates.

Another reason for me to add cocoa powder in these protein bars is the current month theme for our group, Shhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge, which is chocolate, my favourite. The theme is suggested by the admin of the group Mayuri Patel from Mayuri’s Jikoni.

Mayuri Ji has a wonderful blog that has recipes from all over the world. I am in love with her recent Chocolate Modak recipe, and I would love to make this healthy and gluten-free version of halwa, i.e. Almond and Chocolate Halwa.

If you are a regular follower of my blog, you must be knowing that in this group we are paired against each other. So this month my partner was Poonam from Annapurna. Poonam gave me 2 secret ingredients as Dates and Almond Flakes and I made these Chocolate Puffed Amaranth Bars.

I gave Poonam her secret ingredients as Jaggery and Vanilla Essence and she made this Ragi Chocolate Pancakes. Before I proceed further to my recipe check out Poonam’s No-Bake Chocolate Swiss Roll recipe which can be easily done at home with minimum ingredients.

So here goes the recipe of Chocolate Puffed Amaranth Bars

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