Crunchy Peanut Butter Protein Bites

Last weekend, the husband and I took our kiddos on a fairly strenuous hike and outright failed to notice the time we were leaving and how it would egregiously overlap with lunchtime, and then some... I had brought along some of your basic granola bars as a snack, you know, as mother's do when they don't realize they should be feeding their child an actual meal. When we got back to the car and everyone was starving and we were still an hour away from civilization, the husband came through because he is a boy scout and that's what they do. (In fact, he's and Eagle Scout. High five, dude!) He had some Cliff bars in his backpack from his recent hunting trip, which he dolled out along with some jerky. Seriously, this guy is amazing. The Cliff bars were crunchy peanut butter of some kind, anyway, some flavor I'd never tasted, and maybe I was just starving or they were that delicious, but they were delicious.

So, of course I decided I needed to figure out how to make them at home. There are definitely some DIY copycat recipes on Pinterest that are probably more authentic tasting than this one, but I wanted to do it with ingredients I mostly have on hand. That meant some experimenting. Here's what I came up with. And want to know why there's no picture? Because for some really strange reason, the vanilla protein powder I used made mine green...weird. They still taste great though, so there's that. ;)

1/2 cup of peanuts, split.
1/2 cup of rolled oats, split
1/2 cup of vanilla protein powder (The brand I use is Rainbow Light, I think?)
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
3 TB of honey

In a food processor or blender (I use my BlendTec, which I ADORE), grind 1/4 c. of the peanuts--but do not let them turn into a paste, just flour-like. Do the same with 1/4 c. of the rolled oats.

With the rest of the peanuts, use something chop them into small bits. Set aside the rest of the oats.

In the food processor, combine the ground oats, peanuts, and the protein powder and mix until just combined. Add the honey and vanilla extract. Process until it forms a cohesive dough. You may need to add up to a tablespoon of water. You want the dough to come out a little sticky so you can add the remaining peanuts and oats.

Once combined, scrape into a small bowl. Add the rest of the peanuts and oats and stir them in until combined. Scoop out the bites and roll into teaspoon-sized bites. (I used the small Pampered Chef scoop, if you have one.)

Refrigerate.