Power Bars

From Elanaspantry.com. Vegan & gluten-free... AND sooooooo delicious. Good protein, and easy to take on the go. My sis-in-law introduced me to these, with a few modifications. I like the way she makes hers, so I've included those changes as well.

• Ready In: 10 mins
• Serves: 20
• Yields: 20 bars

Ingredients

• 2  cups  almonds (raw)
• 1⁄2 cup  golden flax seed meal
• 1⁄2 cup unsweetened dried shredded coconut
• 1⁄2 cup  creamy roasted almond butter
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  celtic sea salt
• 1⁄2 cup coconut oil
• 4  drops stevia (optional)
• 1  tablespoon  agave nectar
• 1  tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1  cup  dark chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1. Place almonds, flax meal, shredded coconut, almond butter and salt in a food processor. Pulse briefly, about 10 seconds.
2. In a small sauce pan, melt coconut oil over very low heat.
3. Remove coconut oil from stove, stir in stevia (I think it's sweet enough without this), agave and vanilla into oil.
4. Add coconut oil mixture to food processor and pulse until ingredients form a coarse paste. (This is the point where I add the dark chocolate chips. I just stir them in and then skip steps 7 and 8).
5. Press mixture into an 8x8 inch Pyrex baking dish.
6. Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour, until mixture hardens.
7. In a small saucepan, melt chocolate over very low heat, stirring continuously.
8. Spread melted chocolate over bars; return to refrigerator for 30 minutes, until chocolate hardens.
9. Remove from refrigerator, cut into bars and serve.