I'm back again with another healthy sweet treat — but this time, it's these sugar-free energy bites that are packed with a bunch of micronutrients like omega-3s, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, vitamin e, and more! The only ingredients are some super ripe medjool dates and a variety of nuts, and a hint of cardamom! If you want, you can also add some dried rose petals to elevate it even more. Enjoy!
Start with about 8-9 ripe medjool dates!
Pit the dates and then finely dice them up.
This is my main selection of nuts and seeds for this version that I made today. The great part of this recipe is that you can customize it to use whatever nuts or seeds you have on hand!
Lightly toast up the nuts and seeds! To speed things up, I like to toast similarly sized nuts together, so I toasted the cashews, pecans, and walnuts together for this version.
And then I gave them a rough chop! The texture turns out great if you have a few pieces larger than others.
I separately toasted up the pine nuts and pistachios. I left them whole for this version, but you can chop them up if you so wish!
I also added some white sesame and coconut powder into these energy bites...
...but not before toasting them up to a nice golden brown!
Lastly, grind up some fresh cardamom! This adds the best aromatic flavor to the energy bites that'll keep you going in for more.
don't forget to remove the little jackets of the cardamom pods before grinding the cardamom down to a fine powder (even finer than what is pictured above!)
And finally, all that's left is to mix it all together! Doesn't it look so pretty :D
This is what the energy bite blend looks like when you mix it all together. It might feel like there are too many nuts and not enough dates, but trust me — when you start binding them, it all comes together! If you want it sweeter or want an easier time making the energy bites, you can add a few more chopped dates in at this point!
Bind them into these tiny bite-sized balls, and you have just made some yummy energy bites to keep snacking on throughout the week!
Alternatively, if you want, you can form the mixture into logs and then slice them into these little coins for an energy bite in a "barfi" format! This is a picture of when I made these last year, with a slightly different selection of nuts and seeds — and, rose petals!
Ingredients
Makes about 20 energy bites
8-9 ripe medjool dates, finely chopped
handful each of:
walnuts
pecans
pumpkin seeds
pine nuts
almonds*
pistachios
cashews
or any other nut/seed you want to include!**
2 tbsp coconut powder
2 tbsp white sesame seeds
~10 cardamom pods, peeled and finely ground
(optional) 2 tsp of dried rose petals, crushed
Directions
Finely chop the dates. If they are too dry, feel free to heat them up to make them more malleable.
Optionally, lightly toast some or all of the nuts and seeds for a more enhanced flavor. I recommend toasting the walnuts, pecans, cashews, almonds, pistachios, and pine nuts.
Roughly chop up some of the nuts and leave some whole. I recommend leaving the pine nuts whole.
Toast the coconut powder and sesame seeds until they are golden brown.
Mix everything together and use your hands to make sure the dates and nuts are well-incorporated.
Using your hands, form the mixture into little balls, or form into a log and slice into discs.
Store at room temp for up to 2 weeks, or in the fridge for longer. Enjoy!
* If you want, you can use almond flour instead of chopped or slivered almonds.
** For example, you could add hemp seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, brazil nuts, black sesame seeds, poppy seeds, melon seeds, or any other nuts or seeds you think would be yummy in this!
