"Kitchen Sink" Energy Bites

A no bake treat filled with dark chocolate, oats, flax, and nutty goodness? Yes please! I ran across a post from Gimme Some Oven (LOVE her stuff) for no bake energy bites and fell totally madly deeply in love with these. They were sweetened with agave and they had all the delicious ingredients to fuel your belly and satisfy your sweet tooth all while being totally nutritious.
I used her original recipe as a base and have been tweaking it ever sense. It has over the years become my kitchen sink recipe bites. I literally will get a craving for them and go through my pantry and see what all I can add to them at the time. This particular recipe has crunchy peanut butter, cranberries, dark chocolate, sunflower seeds, and so much more.

Coconut is one of those things that throughout my life I have learned to love. I think it was a textural thing. I wouldn't touch coconut as a child - but I am obsessed with it now. If a recipe has coconut in it - sign me up!!
I start these bites with a little extra step that you technically don't have to do but I am telling you makes all the difference in flavor. I toast the coconut and old fashioned oats. There is something about toasting the oats that gives it a nutty flavor that complements the other ingredients so well. And toasted coconut - I mean come on!!

I add the coconut and the oats to a food process and pulse it just a bit to make them into a more fine consistency. Doing this makes it easier to roll them into a ball at the end. Next I start with the liquid for the base. You can use peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, any type of nut butter of your choice. Or if you have a nut allergy you can sub sunflower butter and leave out the coconut. Next I add some honey and a little splash of vanilla- because there is just something about the combo of peanut butter, honey, and vanilla that is ridiculously delicious. Agave is a perfect substitute, however, agave is not as thick as honey so you may have to adjust the liquids to have the right consistency for the bites to roll into a ball.

After you have the base down it is all about the add-ins. I particularly love mini dark chocolate chips for this recipe. You could totally use a different type of chocolate but I like the bitterness of dark chocolate because you already have the sweetness from the honey and peanut butter.  I add in some sunflower seeds and cranberries because there is something about the salty and tart aspect that does some sort of magic to these little guys. Lastly I add in ground flax and chia seeds because that way I don't feel as guilty for eating 5 of these in a day. It's basically a health treat - right?!
I mix all of this up in a bowl and pop it into the fridge for 10 or 15 minutes to set up a little bit. Yes - you heard me right. There is no baking necessary here people. It is a quick no-bake recipe that you will get hooked on.
After about 10 minutes in the fridge it should be relatively easy to roll into balls. If it seems to dry, just add some more peanut butter. If it seems too wet just add some more oats, or whatever you want more of. If all else fails - leave the bowl in the fridge with a spoon and just go to town. I have absolutely been too lazy to roll these into balls before and have eaten this delicious mixture straight out of the bowl with zero shame.
These little energy bites give me just the boost and sweet fix that I need on a daily basis. They also make a perfect travel snack!

XO
Elizabeth