Copy Cat Tiger's Milk Bars in 2 flavors - Part 3 - How I refine my formulas

Peanut Butter & Jelly Tiger's Milk Bars!

Tiger Test Batch No. 2 is in the house!

I'm impatiently waiting for the chocolate coating to set up on this newest batch of Tiger's Milk protein bars. I made a few subtle changes to formula No. 1, we will soon see how it went.

See Tiger's Milk bar formula No. 1 HERE.

See my first post about Tiger's Milk bars HERE.

I divided this batch in half and this time I made a total of 4 bars, instead of only 2 bars, like last time:

The first half I rolled out and shaped into 2 bars.

The 2nd half I added 1/2 tsp. strawberry preserves to. I folded it up and kneaded it in until it smoothed out and became uniform. I then rolled it into a log, cut it in half, making 2 bars out of it. I am duplicating the discontinued Peanut Butter & Jelly flavored Tiger's Milk bar (which was my childhood favorite).

I noticed that the bars with the added jelly were softer and shinier when finished. They may be the softer texture I am looking for...

In my last post, I mentioned that I wanted these bars to be a bit sweeter and slightly less chewy, plus they needed a touch more salt and flavorings. We'll see if that was accomplished this time.

As I mentioned before, I will healthify this formula later, although there is no high fructose corn syrup in these so they are still an improvement over the commercial Tiger's Milk bars.

If you want to try these along with me but you do not have the flavorings... No worry, just use vanilla extract and If you have some replace some of the nonfat milk powder for malted milk powder, or do without the malt flavoring.

This is what I did this time (see recipe below). Notice I increased the corn syrup, brown sugar, peanut butter, soy isolate, and flavorings. I also added a touch of salt and stevia glycerite.



Copy Cat Tiger's Milk Bars (High Protein Flavor):

54 grams corn syrup (Karo)
8 grams brown sugar
26 grams natural peanut butter, salted (Adam's) (I used chunky this time)
20 grams plain soy protein isolate
16 grams nonfat dry milk powder (not instant)
1 gram calcium caseinate powder (Now brand)
3 grams Hi-Maize resistant starch (Honeyville Grain)
1 t. vanilla flavor powder
1/4 t. malt flavor powder
1/4 t. dairy-type flavor powder
1/16 t. sea salt
8 drops stevia glycerite (Now brand)


Method:

Heat the corn syrup, brown sugar, and peanut butter in a small non-stick pan over medium heat, stirring until fully dissolved and starting to bubble.

Take off heat and add the pre-mixed powdered ingredients. Stir in quickly, It will look crumbly at first, stir and mash it with the back of a hard silicone spatula until it comes together smoothly.

Turn out onto a silicone mat or a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Knead with your hands (don't burn yourself) until uniform and starting to stiffen.

Roll into a thick rope, the length of how ever many bars you want to make (from 2 to 4 bars). Cut into bar-length segments. Flatten and shape into bars. Let cool a bit before dipping in carob coating (or chocolate).

Melt your carob coating in a shallow flat microwave-safe container. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each, until melted and smooth.

Immerse the bars into the melted carob coating and remove the bars with tined forks, tamping and letting the excess chocolate drain off. Place the bars back on the silicone mat or parchment paper. Chill until set, about 20-30 minutes.

Let bars come back to room temperature before biting into. Store in an air-tight container at room temperature.

This batch size makes a total of 4 Tiger's Milk-sized bars.

Copy Cat Tiger's Milk Bars (Peanut Butter & Jelly Flavor):

To half of the batch of kneaded protein bar dough, I added:

1/2 t. strawberry preserves

Flatten out the dough into a square and spread the preserves onto the surface of the dough. Fold the dough in on itself and knead, while continuing to fold in on itself, until it is smooth, uniform and shiny. Form into 2 bars. Dip in carob coating as above.

Results:

High Protein Flavor:

Great peanut butter taste. They are sweeter. They maybe could still be a touch sweeter though. They are too chewy and hard, even a touch harder that test batch No. 1. The level of salt is perfect now. The flavor seems richer, but none of the flavorings stand out, other than peanut butter, which is good.

I need to heat it even less time, but I think the real solution is to increase my corn syrup, so they are less dry, and easier to work with. Still, I like this bar better than test batch No. 1.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Flavor:

The texture was lovely, even perfect. They have great flavor, but you can't really pick out the taste of the jam (I couldn't really pick out the flavor of the jam in the original Peanut Butter & Jelly flavored Tiger's Milk bars either though), still, more jelly taste shining through would be tasty. I may even add jam to the melting syrup next time, instead of kneading it in. The level of salt was perfect here too. I still think a touch sweeter would be nice.

So there is my review. We are definitely working in the right direction! Happy day!


Photos of the protein bar making process:

The wet ingredients are in the pan and the dry ingredients weighed out in a bowl.

Heat over medium with stirring until dissolved and starting to bubble.

Turn off the heat and quickly stir in all the dry ingredients.

It will look crumbly at first. Keep stirring.

The dough will quickly come together.

The dough is ready for kneading.

Knead while it is still pretty hot (don't burn yourself).

I divided the dough in half so that I could do a peanut butter & jelly flavor experiment.

These strawberry preserves will do for now.

I spread out the preserves and started to roll loosely up onto itself.

The preserves want to escape! No matter, I just keep folding it in on itself.

Is it going to work???

Yup, it worked. The jelly flavored roll is at the bottom.

Divide into 4 pieces.

Flatten and shape into bars.

After cars have cooled to room temperature, dip in carob coating.

Tamp off the extra chocolate and gently set down.

4 little beauties ready for the fridge. Cool until set, about 30 minutes.

Just out of the fridge. Let come back up to room temperature a bit before eating.

I couldn't wait for the chocolate to completely harden, so these look a bit messy. the PB&J flavor is on the right.

The plain flavor was delicious but very chewy. The PB&J flavor had the perfect texture!

Well, lets see what formulating round 3 yields! Who's gonna eat all these protein bar experiments???

Enjoy!

Leila.