These tasty little energy bites were a perfect healthy afternoon snack today! They also made for a great dessert treat! With just 6 simple ingredients and a quick pulse in the food processor, I whipped these things up in about 10 minutes, popped them in the fridge, and had mid-day pick me ups made for the rest of the week!

This recipe also rekindled my long-time romance with almond butter. In college, I always bought the fresh homemade almond butter from a local health food store and ate WAY too much of it… all the time. Since moving away from home I really haven’t bought any, because in my heart I knew it just wouldn’t be as good as the fresh made stuff. When I had a taste of it today, I remembered exactly why I had to get myself to stop buying it.. because once I have one spoonful, there’s no stopping me. I could eat an entire jar of almond butter in one sitting… easily.

I will now do my best to try to contain myself, and limit myself to just ONE spoonful a day! Cross your fingers, wish me luck, because this will be difficult.

Check out this simple recipe below:

ENERGY BITES

INGREDIENTS:

1. 1 cup Pitted Dates
2. 1/4 cup Walnuts
3. 1/2 cup Almond Butter
4. 1 tsp Cocoa Powder
5. 1 tsp cinnamon
6. 1/4 cup Chocolate Chips

PREPARATION:

1. Add dates, walnuts, almond butter, cocoa powder, and cinnamon to food processor
2. Pulse until a thick dough is formed
3. Remove food processor blades and stir in chocolate chips
4. Roll dough into small one inch balls.
5. For half of the balls I rolled them in a little extra cocoa powder. This gave them a slightly more bitter taste, but I enjoyed it! With or without the outer cocoa powder, they’re still delicious!
6. Refrigerate energy bites for at least one hour before digging in!