I love making these energy balls. Call them what you like: raw protein balls, energy balls, no bake protein balls, you can find many variations. Essentially, though, they’re all a version of the same thing.
What I didn’t like about the recipes I found, was that most seemed to add either honey or dates to bind the mixture and add a little sweetness.
After quitting sugar over Lent, I’m trying to maintain that lifestyle and even if I kid myself that a little honey won’t harm, it will in terms of adding sweetness back in to my life and leading to cravings again.
Honey and dates are still sugar, even if they are in another form.
That’s why I took all the ingredients I love and made my own version.
My daughter loves these. She does over 12 hours of gymnastics a week and therefore needs something energy-packed after school to help her get through training.
One or two of these protein balls is more than enough to fill you and keep you sustained.
If you’re used to having sugar, you might find these bitter. Think of bitter chocolate truffles and that’s kind of what you’re getting. Rolling each ball in a little cinnamon though, adds just a touch of sweetness to balance out the cacao.
- 75 g Almonds
- 75 g Hazelnuts
- 3 tbsp Chia seeds
- 3 tbsp Oats (gluten free if desired)
- 3 tbsp raw cacao
- 1 tbsp Vanilla protein powder
- 125 g Peanut butter
- Cinnamon
- Weigh the almonds and hazelnuts in to a food processor and blitz until chopped very fine
- Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until fully incorporated
- Form the mixture into ball and either roll in cinnamon, or sprinkle on top
- Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving, then store in the fridge in an air tight container
