Thursday, January 31, 2013

Easy No-Bake Energy Bites

I've been seeing these cute little energy bites all over pinterest, and they sounded good to me, so I thought I would make some.

As you might have gathered, given that I'm posting the recipe, our family liked it.  But really, what's not to like?  Mmm.  So good.



Before I go any farther, you should know that you are not bound to follow the recipe--feel free to substitute based on your likes and needs and what you have on hand.  Peanut allergy?  Substitute another nut butter.  Don't like coconut?  Leave it out and add chia seeds, sunflower seeds, or more oatmeal.  Not enough ground flax in the house?  Do what I did and use wheat germ to make up the difference.  Or use ground nuts.  The important thing to remember is to keep the proportions of wet to dry ingredients approximately the same.

Alright.  Ready for the recipe?  Here ya go:

Easy No-Bake Energy Bites
1 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/3 c. honey
1 c. coconut
1/2 c. ground flax
1/2 c. mini-chocolate chips
1 t. vanilla

Just mix everything together, then roll it into balls.  That's it.
I used a 1 tablespoon measure to make the balls and the recipe made 2 dozen.

I put the peanut butter and honey into the microwave for a minute on high first to make it easier to mix, but that step is completely unnecessary--you'll be able to mix it without heating.  Then when I added my mini-chocolate chips, they melted a bit, which I thought was a happy accident, infusing the chocolate throughout the ball instead of just in discreet chip-sized spots.

Lots of the recipes suggest chilling the mixture before rolling the balls, but I didn't and it worked just fine.  But if your mixture is too sticky to roll or the balls fall apart, you could try it.  Lots of the recipes also suggest storing them in the fridge, which I totally would have done if they had lasted that long, but since none of the ingredients require refrigeration, these shouldn't either, so it's more of a maintaining the ball shape issue than a food safety issue, I think.

A word of caution: while these little bites have lots of good qualities, including being a great source of fiber, high quality protein, and healthy fats, including omega-3s, being low calorie is not one of them.  According to my calculations, each bite contains about 115 calories, so consume in moderation.

Enjoy!

Easy No-Bake Energy Bites
 

 

by
Prep Time: 5 min


Ingredients (2 Dozen)
  • 1 c. oatmeal
  • 1/2 c. peanut butter
  • 1/3 c. honey
  • 1 c. coconut
  • 1/2 c. ground flax
  • 1/2 c. mini-chocolate chips
  • 1 t. vanilla
  •  
Instructions
Just mix everything together, then roll it into balls. That's it.
I used a 1 tablespoon measure to make the balls and the recipe made 2 dozen.
 
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