August 12, 2018

Portable Fuel Energy Bites

Loaded with seeds, grains, dried fruits and nuts, these Energy Bites are veritable little kick starters; a delicious way to fuel your body on the go!

These past few months have been crazy hectic for me! Between the many projects going on around the house — new air conditioning, new roof, new deck, new pool — and the tons of summer activities and road trips that I’ve been taking, I’ve often found myself in need of a quick, portable little snack like these adorable and delicious energy bites.

Seriously, you will not believe the amount of wholesome, nutritious ingredients that I was able to squeeze into such small little things. We’re talking rolled oats, chia, flax, sunflower, pumpkin and hemp seeds, dried coconut, cranberries and apricots, too!

Oh, and then I even threw in a couple of servings of whey protein powder, for good measure…

To bind all these together, I chose to use a ripe banana, some all-natural almond butter, unpasteurized honey and coconut oil.

I say it doesn’t get much better than that! The result far exceeded my expectations. These energy bites, they’re not good. They’re crazy addictive, that’s what they are. So dense, yet so light… with every bite, all the different seeds they crack and pop in your mouth, while the millions of flavors explode all over the place.

Whether you’re on the run a lot, or you like to reach for a little pick-me upper during your morning or afternoon break at work, then you will be all over these, I swear.

About a half hour before you are ready to begin, put ¼ cup of chia seeds to soak in ½ cup of water. Once all the water has been soaked up and the seeds have become gelatinous, preheat your oven to 350°F

Process about half the rolled oats in a mini food processor until it’s reduced to a coarse flour consistency; transfer that oat flour to a large mixing bowl, along with the remaining intact rolled oats and the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix until thoroughly combined and set aside.

Alternatively, if you didn’t want to be bothered with processing the rolled oats, you could sub oat flour for half the quantity of rolled oats that the recipe calls for.

You’re still gonna have to take that mini processor out of the cupboards though… It’s pretty much necessary to make the sticky mixture that will bind all of these dry ingredients together.

In it, you’ll want to combine a ripe banana, some almond butter, honey and coconut oil and give these guys a good blitz until they’re all super well combined and the mixture has the consistency of a thick, gooey caramel.

Now, a word of warning, if I may: you’re going to need all the self-control in the world not to eat this stuff by the spoonful. It’s crazy insanely delicious! I’m ready to bet that you’re gonna want to find all kinds of other uses for this sticky concoction…

I know I did!

But for now, you’ll want to pour it ALL over your reserved dry ingredients.

Yes, you will need all of it. Don’t try and be sneaky and leave a few tablespoons in the processor so you can lick it clean later… You really don’t have that much to spare!

Now dump the gelatinous chia seeds right into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients…

…and start mixing!

Now, a word of advice this time, if I may: the mixture will be extremely dense and sticky and stubborn and downright hard to mix. If you’re not afraid to get dirty, I strongly suggest that you use your fingers here. They’re definitely the most efficient tool for the task at hand (pun definitely intended!).

If you’d rather not, though, make sure that you use a very sturdy spoon!

Once the dough is nice and evenly mixed, you’ll want to divide it equally between 24 non-stick mini muffin cups. I find that using a small spring-loaded cookie scoop helped tremendously in getting the job done.

What you want to do is scoop one spoonful into each cavity as a first pass…

Then flatten the mixture down with the tip of your fingers…

Finally, scoop a second spoonful of the mixture over each bite, pressing down on the spoon good and hard to ensure that the mixture bonds well with the first layer that’s already in place.

This will even take care of shaping the tops into nice, rounded little domes!

Oh, and if you ever find that your spoon gets too sticky, try dipping it in warm water from time to time: it will help greatly!

Bake the mini muffin bites in a 350°F oven for 10 – 11 minutes, or until the tops start to turn slightly golden brown. Then, let them rest in the pan for about a minute and remove them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Store your cute little bites of portable fuel in an airtight container in a cool dry place for up to a week.

Loaded with seeds, grains, dried fruits and nuts, these Energy Bites are veritable little kick starters; a delicious way to fuel your body on the go!

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