Raw Cacao Vanilla Energy Bites

Where oh where to start?

Well for starters, how about as promised, I'm back today with a sweet snack to share.

Or should I say a luscious chocolatey snack?

If you've been following along with me for awhile now, you're probably familiar with how much I love to make real easy snacks, especially no-bake energy bites. They're always nutritious and deliciously good. These are no exception! The title says it all. If you have a sweet tooth and are in love with chocolate, these little bites might just fit the bill. They're texture is so smooth, soft, and chocolatey. Very reminiscent of a decadent truffle. Only these won't go straight to your thighs ;)

You may be thinking they look pretty impressive, but they're surprisingly easy to prepare. Just 6 ingredients and some quality time with my favourite kitchen accessory, the food processor.

I recently bought some raw cacao powder at my local healthy food store and boy is it good. I've been doing some experimenting with it in a few recipes and this is one of them. I think I nailed this recipe the first time I made it. After the first bite, I almost died and went to heaven! Maybe I'm biased but I think this is one of my best energy bite recipes yet, and my family agrees with me. They came out so fluffy and soft. They just melt in mouth.

I made sure the chocolate and vanilla flavours were nice and prominent. Pure and simple clean ingredients for clean nutrition.

Raw Cacao Vanilla Energy Bites

by Jennifer Trennum

Prep Time: 5-10 minutes

Keywords: food processor no-bake raw dessert snack gluten-free grain-free vegan almond butter dates cacao powder energy bites

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Ingredients (12 energy bites)

• 3/4 cup macadamia nuts
• 1 cup pitted dates
• 3 tablespoons raw cacao powder
• 1/4 cup smooth almond butter
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

Place macadamia nuts in the bowl of food processor and grind until finely chopped. Be careful not to turn them into nut butter.

Next add the dates to the chopped nuts and grind until combined and mixture holds together.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor. Process until a smooth dough forms, stopping and scraping the walls of a food processor as needed. It should take about 2-5 minutes. The dough should be sticky enough that you are able to form it together in your hands.

Using a small ice cream scoop or spoon, scoop 2 tablespoons worth of the mixture out (about the size of a golf ball) and roll with hands into a ball. Place some coconut flakes in one bowl and cacao powder in another, roll half of the balls in the coconut flakes and the other half in the cacao powder to coat.

Notes

Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Freeze for up to 3 months. They can be eaten right out the freezer, no defrosting necessary!

Nutritional Information

Serving Size: 1 energy bite Calories: 136 Fat: 10g Sodium: 21mg Carbohydrates: 13g Sugar: 7g Fiber: 5g Protein: 2g

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Vanilla Bean Almond Butter

If there was one food item you couldn't live without, what would it be?

That's a tough question. I think I would have a hard time living without my collection of nut butters. 

Yes I said collection. I really must take a picture to show you one of these days.

One of my forever all-time favourite's is the maple cinnamon almond butter I make. Anyone I give it to dies and goes to heaven.

...and then asks for the recipe. hehe. It's a winner that's for sure.

Anyway, I got to thinking and I realized that I don't really have many nut butter's in my recipe collection here on the blog, which isn't very fitting seeing how much I love the stuff. Healthy fats are delicious you know.

So I've sworn to myself that I'm going to come up with many more nut butter recipes. From almond to peanut, and sunflower to hazelnut, you name it.

Today I've got an almond butter recipe that's got a pretty simple list of ingredients. Raw almonds that we roast for extra flavour (let's face it roasting makes everything better), a bit of sugar, pure vanilla extract, and a pinch a sea salt to round out the flavours.

Here's a quick 4 step example of what your almonds should look like on their road to becoming almond butter.

I could eat this all day long. Of course one of my favourite ways to enjoy any nut butter is on my oatmeal. Don't knock it until you try it. I've even got my relatives from England putting peanut butter on their oats and granola now. My second favourite way is straight off the spoon.

If you want to make an almond taste better, this is the way to do it.

Vanilla Bean Almond Butter gluten free, vegan, vegetarian | makes about 1 1/2 cups

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Ingredients:

• 2 cups raw almonds
• 1 tbsp cane sugar (or other unrefined sugar)
• 1 vanilla bean, slit lengthwise and all seeds scraped out (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
2. Place the almonds on a baking sheet and roast them for 10-12 minutes, until fragrant and golden, stirring once during roasting.
3. Remove from oven and let the nuts cool for a few minutes, then place them in the bowl of your food processor. Process until you get a smooth and creamy nut butter to form; about 12-15 minutes. Scrape down the bowl of the food processor as necessary.
4. Add in the sugar, vanilla bean seeds (or extract), and sea salt. Process again to combine everything until incorporated.
5. Store in an air-tight jar or container. 

*Tips*

• Don't let the almonds cool down too much before processing. They are easier to turn into nut butter while they are still warm.
• I like to scrape down the food processor every few minutes or so to scrape down the sides and help the almonds along.

Nutrition Information

Serving Size: 2 tbsp Calories: 164 Fat: 13g Saturated Fat: 1g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 60mg Carbohydrates: 7.7g Sugar: 3g Fiber: 3g Protein: 6g