Chocolate Superfood-Spiked Energy Bites

A couple of weeks ago I bought a cookbook titled, Superfood Snacks, by Julie Morris, a health food chef living in Los Angeles. It was an unusual purchase for me because I rarely buy cookbooks. Oh I used to all the time when I lived in Portland. But back then I was buying discounted cookbooks from Powell’s. (Miss that store!) My recent purchase wasn’t even discounted. But the cover drew me in immediately.

The cookbook was a suggestion from Amazon, I’m assuming based on the fact that I bought a bunch of superfoods used in Julie’s recipes. When I got the cookbook in the mail, I was in love. I wanted to try all of Julie’s recipes immediately. Unfortunately I didn’t have all the necessary ingredients and haven’t had the money to make the needed purchases.

Today I was looking for a superfood cookie recipe using ingredients I do have when I came across a recipe for superfood cookie dough. The recipe was almost everything for which I was looking, but I knew I could add to it by channeling my inner Julie Morris. I added even more superfoods to the recipe (raw cacao powder, cacao nibs). I also swapped out the honey for some brown sugar and almond milk. (I’m not a huge fan of honey.)

ingredients.

½ c. rolled oats
¼ c. peanut butter
¼ c. almond butter (or more peanut butter)
¾ c. almond meal
2 T. ground flaxseed
2 T. chia seeds
1 oz dried goji berries (or dried fruit)
1 oz raw cacao nibs
2 ½ T. raw cacao powder
1 tsp. vanilla
pinch of sea salt
pinch of cinnamon
¼ c. brown sugar
¼ c. almond milk (or other non-dairy beverage)

directions.

Using a mixer, beat almond and peanut butter. Add sugar and vanilla and mix to incorporate.
Add cacao powder, oats, seeds, almond meal, sea salt and cinnamon and mix to combine. Add almond and stir to form a sticky dough-like substance. Stir in cacao nibs and dried goji berries.

I’m always a little apprehensive about mashing up a recipe. It doesn’t always turn out when I try. I recently tried taking a tried and true flourless almond butter chocolate chip cookie recipe and superfooding it up … it was not a success. (Notice I didn’t blog about it?) I knew with the ingredients I added that I wasn’t messing with the recipe so bad that it would flop. As it turns out, I was more than pleased with the results (even though I forgot to add one of the ingredients I was looking forward to using – maca powder).

I think these energy bites would be a good alternative to a cookie if you’re looking for something sweet. Myself – I’m trying to limit my sugar. My recipe yielded 16 balls that were approximately one ounce each (1.1, 1.2). Each ball is approximately 120 calories, with 8 g fat, 9 g carbohydrates, 3 g fiber, 4 g sugar and 4 g protein.

Recipe rating: 