Vanilla Protein Blackberry Crumble Bars (Grain/Gluten-Free)

I’m posting these Vanilla Protein Blackberry Crumble Bars in honor of the rebrand over at Equip Foods, my favorite protein brand. These are made with Equip’s vanilla Prime Protein, which I love because it has only four ingredients: beef isolate, coconut milk powder, vanilla, and stevia. No gluten, dairy, whey, soy, hormones, antibiotics, fillers, artificial sweeteners, or preservatives.
Maybe the idea of putting beef in your Vanilla Protein Blackberry Crumble strikes you as a bit off. Don’t worry, Prime Protein doesn’t taste like beef at all! I personally think it tastes like sweetened condensed milk, which makes it an interesting ingredient to experiment with, in baking.

I won’t label these as keto per se, but they definitely did not kick me out of ketosis when I ate them. They’re low in carbs, using coconut flour, blackberries (6 grams of carbs per cup versus 17.4 grams in a cup of blueberries), eggs, oil, vanilla, lemon, and the sweetness of the stevia in the Prime Protein itself.

I even experimented with a coconut drizzle: 1/2 cup coconut butter + 4 tbsp coconut milk + stevia to taste. Really pretty in combination with extra lemon zest.

I honestly don’t know if this recipe will work with other protein powders. I have heard that plant-based protein powders perform very differently in baking than ones made of whey, or beef (such as Prime Protein). Prime Protein is actually the only protein powder I’ve ever tried to bake with, so, let me know if you try it with another kind of protein and it works well!
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Vanilla Protein Blackberry Crumble Bars (Grain/Gluten-Free)
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 1 hr
- Total Time: 1 hr 15 min
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup vanilla protein powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 lemon
- 6–9 oz fresh blackberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8″ square cake pan, set aside.
- Combine the first four ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Zest and juice the lemon. Combine its zest and juice with the eggs, coconut milk, 2 tbsp coconut oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk until thoroughly combined.
- Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Reserve 1/3 cup of the batter, press the rest into the bottom of the greased cake pan. Blind bake in the preheated oven for thirty minutes, until browned and firm.
- Remove from the oven, and top with the blackberries. Spoon the remaining batter over and around the blackberries. Return to the oven, and cook for an additional 30 minutes, until browned.
- Slice and serve.
The Comments
Renee
So beautiful! We have a huge mulberry tree in our backyard that I think I will try this with! Thanks!
Kari Peters
These looks incredible, and your photos are so beautiful and popping with color!
Jean
Wow these look gorgeous! I’m always looking for low-carb desserts, and I can’t wait to make this!
Michele Spring
Yum – this looks like such a delicious summer recipe! And gorgeous too – especially with that glaze. Love!!
Irena Macri
Holy moly! Beautiful – I can’t believe these are even protein bars. You can’t find those in the store.
Fresh Planet Flavor
Irena MacriThat’s definitely true! They’re not protein bars in the store-bought packaged sense of the word… they remind me of scones, actually, just with added protein. 🙂
Tina
This would make the perfect breakfast bar in my opinion! Thanks for the yummy recipe!
Fresh Planet Flavor
TinaYes, they would work very well for breakfast!
ChihYu
Oh Wow Rachel these look SO GOOD !! I can taste the blackberry from my computer screen !! YUM !! need to make these !
Fresh Planet Flavor
ChihYuAren’t blackberry sooooo much fun, and so gorgeous? I’m going crazy for them this season.
Jo Romero
I was out walking this morning and I noticed the blackberries just starting to come out on the bushes at the moment – they’ll soon be ready for picking! Definitely saving this to make when we do go out to get some. Really beautiful.
STACEY CRAWFORD
These look fantastic Rachel & they are low carb (yay!) Sharing 🙂
Amanda Torres // TheCuriousCoconut.com
I’m really interested to try this protein powder now! What a gorgeous treat, your recipes always look so amazing <3
Holley Marth
This looks super! I need to use protein powder in more baking, this looks like the perfect breakfast bar.
Fresh Planet Flavor
Holley MarthHa, protein powder is tricky! Doesn’t quite act like a sweetener, doesn’t quite act like a flour.
Cristina Curp
These might be the perfect plane snack for me next month. I can’t believe theyre also nut free… and pretty low carb! Day, Made. xxoo
Fresh Planet Flavor
Cristina CurpI tried to make them as low carb as possible, by using coconut flour rather than nut flour, stevia rather than honey/syrup, and some of the lowest-carb berries there are!
Becky Winkler
Wow, these look so delicious! Love your blue background, too!
Fresh Planet Flavor
Becky WinklerThank you! It’s a massive piece of slate. In some light it looks blue, other times it looks gray.
Katja
YUM!!! Blackberry season is almost here. I know what I’m making this year. Gorgeous photos.
Emily Recipes to Nourish
My youngest would go crazy for these. She LOVES blackberries. I love all of the protein aspect, such a fun, healthier treat.
Fresh Planet Flavor
Emily Recipes to NourishBlackberries are one of my favorites too, and so low-carb. 🙂
Darryl
I do love blackberries and this recipe, something I’d like to try out for sure!
Laurie
This recipe looks very good! Thank you for sharing it! One question… when you say coconut milk do you mean the full-fat canned kind or the stuff in a milk carton?
Fresh Planet Flavor
LaurieHi Laurie, I mean the full-fat stuff in the can.
Laurie
Fresh Planet FlavorThank you! I thought so! 🙂
Kelly @ A Girl Worth Saving
This looks amazing! I can’t believe it’s made without sugar!
Alex Jordan
The recipe looks amazing, I am always looking for new protein bar recipes. Glad to have these for my snack this week!
★★★★★
Fresh Planet Flavor
Alex JordanThanks for stopping by, Alex!