Energy Bites: The Perfect Everyday Snack

I don’t know about you, but I can’t go 4-5 hours in between meals without having a snack. I love snacks, and know my body craves a little something in the morning and afternoon between meals. I make a point to prepare homemade snacks at the start of my week to fuel my body when it gets hungry. One snack I always have on hand is energy bites, made with 6 simple ingredients.

Ingredients:

• Quick oats

• Flax seed

• Unsweetened coconut flakes

• Semi-sweet chocolate chips

• Peanut butter

• Honey

Fair warning, I don’t measure specific amounts for this recipe, I just toss the ingredients together and add more of an ingredient if it looks like there’s not enough.

Step 1: Dry Ingredients

Put all of the dry ingredients into a bowl: oats, flax, coconut, and chocolate chips. I probably add at least double the amount of oats compared to the amount of flax and coconut. In terms of chocolate chips, feel free to add whatever amount you prefer. If you’re not a chocolate chip fan, feel free to exclude them from the recipe as well, totally up to you.

Step 2: Add PB + Honey

Once you’ve done a quick mix of the dry ingredients, add the peanut butter and honey to the bowl and start mixing! The honey and peanut butter are the sticky components that will hold the energy bites together so definitely don’t be shy on the amount. I normally start mixing, then end up adding a bit more peanut butter and honey to properly coat all of the dry ingredients to make them sticky enough to hold as a ball.

Step 3: Mix, Mix, Mix!

Continue mixing all ingredients until everything is properly incorporated and there are no loose oats at the bottom of the bowl. Once all the ingredients have been mixed together, you can either start rolling the energy bites right away, or you can put the bowl in the fridge for 15 minutes or so before rolling. The cold does help make the ingredients stick together a bit better, but sometimes I don’t have the time or am a bit impatient.

Step 4: Roll into Bite-Sized Balls

To roll the energy bites, I just use my hands to grab a chunk of the “batter”, squeeze it together as a sphere and start to roll it around in my palm to make a decent ball shape. There is no such thing as a perfect energy bite shape. Each one always turns out a little bit unique. I do try and take approximately the same amount in my hand each time though so that the energy bites are all relatively the same size.

Step 5: Pack & Freeze

Once all your energy bites have been rolled, put them into containers. I prefer to put them into multiple smaller containers so that I can freeze them and pull out just one container at a time. I put all containers in the freezer for at least a few hours right after rolling the bites to help them solidify, and I pull out one container at a time into the fridge as needed. I typically make 24 energy bites at a time, and freeze them in containers of 8.

And that’s all there is to it! Homemade energy bites are an extremely simple snack to make, and you can make lots at a time since they freeze well. They’re perfect for a quick snack at home or on the go. Plus, they contain two of my favorite ingredients, chocolate and peanut butter, how can you go wrong?