Cereal bars are great snacks and the preferred choice of most people. However, the majority of the cereal bars found in supermarkets, even the vegan ones, often contain too many artificial ingredients and especially lots of sugar.
I find my homemade energy balls a perfect substitute. They are made with 100% natural ingredients, and almost all are raw. These energy balls are also a complete and healthy source of energy, containing protein, fat and carbohydrates, but without preservative or excess sugar. To prepare them is ridiculously easy, you just blend all ingredients.
The base of this recipe is oat, which is a staple in my pantry. Besides being very nutritious, oats contain soluble fibers, which help to increase satiety. As a source of fat, I added peanut butter (unsweetened and unsalted) and coconut oil. As I mentioned in this cookie recipe here, I eat plant-based fat regularly. To complete the energy balls was just a matter of choosing the flavors: I opted for carrots with cacao and dry apricot with shredded coconut. The results are super delicious.
The good thing about this energy balls is that you can freeze them and consume when you need that extra energy in a busy day or whenever you just want a sweet treat! I especially love taking them with me when I’m going for a hike, or to have two of them an hour before my daily run!
- Carrot and cacao energy balls
- - 1 cup of rolled oats
- - 1/2 cup grated carrot
- - 2 tablespoons of peanut butter (unsweetened)
- - 2 tablespoons maple syrup or molasses
- - 2 tablespoons of water
- - 20 grams of dark vegan chocolate (I used 95% cocoa)
- - ½ tablespoon cacao powder
- Apricot and shredded coconut balls
- - ½ cup of oats (120 ml)
- - ½ cup dried apricot (about 10 apricots)
- - ½ cup shredded dry coconut
- - 2 tablespoons maple syrup or molasses
- - 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil
- - Carrot cacao balls: Add all ingredients in the blender (or a food processor). Blend until very heavy and sticky dough is obtained and you can mold it with your hands. I blended a bit, stopped, and with the help of a spatula scrapped the mix that was stuck to the sides of the jar and then blended again. The more powerful your blender or processor, the faster and better the dough you obtain.
- - Apricot coconut balls: same method of preparation as described above.
- - Molding the balls: Take a tablespoon of dough in your hands and roll into a ball shape. In the carrot dough, I mixed the chopped dark chocolate (95% cocoa), and rolled the balls in cacao powder. The apricot and coconut balls were rolled on shredded coconut.
- These balls can be consumed immediately, but they taste much better if left in the refrigerator for at least one hour. They can also be frozen and consumed within a month.
- - My recipe yielded 10 carrot cacao balls and 10 apricot coconut balls.
