Peanut Butter & Chocolate Superfood Bites (2024)

For the last couple of weeks I've been reallyinto making all sorts of varieties of superfood date balls. They're quick, easy, convenient, and leave very little clean up. These superfood bites are sweet, peanut buttery, and have the perfect crunch - creamy peanut butter, soft caramel-y dates, andcrunchy cacao nibs are a match made in heaven!

Date balls can be loaded with healthy ingredients and superfoods and still taste good! This makes themawesome to keep in your regular recipe rotation. There are so many ways that you can change up the flavour, and you can easily adjust the ingredients to suit your specific needs. I've been really busy trying to improve my blog (and blogging), which means I've spent a lot of timeglued to my computer lately. Withso much to get done it's easy to let other priorities take over and healthy eating can fall by the wayside. If I keep a big batch of these aroundat least I have something wholesome, tasty, and energizing to snack on throughout the day.

I've loaded these Peanut Butter & Chocolate Superfood Bites withhealthy fats and plant protein so they should do a good job of keeping you feeling satiated between meals.This recipe is a great choice for taking snacks to work or school, and makes really good healthy travelling food too! If you have a roadtrip planned for this summer try bringing along somehealthy snacks like these superfood bites. Let's at least try to leave the gas stations to fueling our carsrather than our bodies. Good intentions are important,right?

This recipe is easy, fast, and requires very little clean up. After making them a couple of times, I'm usually in and out of the kitchen in under 20 minutes!They are gluten-free, soy-free, no bake, and refined sugar free. They caneasily be madepeanut or nut-free using the substitutions at the end of the recipe.

Nutrition Info

dates:High in natural sugars and a good source of fibre and potassium. Dates contain a wide variety of essential nutrients such as protein, magnesium, and zinc. I use Sayer dates, asoft-syrupy date.

almonds:Almonds are an extremely nutrient dense food providing a good source of protein, healthy fats, and fibre and notable amounts ofvitamin E, magnesium, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and riboflavin.

peanut butter:Choose natural peanut butter that contains "peanuts" as the sole ingredient - it's high in protein (8g per 2 tbsp) and a good source of vitamin E, niacin, vitamin B6, magnesium, phosphorus, and manganese.

coconut oil:Coconut oil contains high levels of lauric acid, a saturated fat that can have positive effects on blood cholesterol levels. Thesaturated fat in coconut oil is made up of mostlymedium-chain-triglycerides which areless damaging than other saturated fats. Coconut oil is likely to have positive health effects on vegans due to their usually low consumption of saturated fats.

chia seeds:Loaded with fibre, protein, and healthy fats with healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Chia seeds are also a good source of calcium, phosphorus, and manganese.

hemp hearts:Packed with high quality protein and a great source of essential fatty acids.

cacao nibs:Rich in anti-agingantioxidants heart healthyflavenoids,cacao has energizing properties and is a great source of iron.

Sources:nutritiondata.self.comandwikipedia.org

Ingredients

• 1 cup soft pitted dates, lightly packed
• 1 cup raw almonds
• 2-3 tablespoon peanut butter (add an extra 2 tablespoon almonds)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1-2tbsp chia seeds
• 1tbsp hemp hearts
• 3tbsp cacao nibs or chocolate chips

Supplies: food processor, measuring spoons,measuring cups,spatula/wooden spoon,storage container.

Dietary Info: Gluten-free, soy-free, refined sugar-free, no bake, and optionally nut-free.

Directions

Gather and measure all of your ingredients. When measuring out your dates, ensure that they are free of date pits and fragments - pinch each date between your thumb and forefinger individually to feel for pits. (Seriously, do this. Somehow I missed a pit in my last batch and let me tell you, it is not fun to unsuspectingly bite down ona rock hard date pit!!)

In your food processor, pulse almonds until finely and evenly chopped, like coarse sand.

Add the remaining ingredients and continue processing until the "dough"isthoroughly mixedand begins to form a sticky ball.

Unplug your food processor. Use a tablespoon to scoop spoonfuls ofdough,use your hands to squeeze the mixture tightly and then roll them into balls using the palm of your hand. You can roll them into any sizeyou prefer. Bite-sized pieces are good to snack on, but I usually like to make them quite big so that I can just grab a couple of them for an energizing snack.

Once you've rolled out all of the remaining dough, place the finished date balls in the freezer to set for an hour. After an hour, transfer your superfood bites to keep inyour fridge. Store for up to 2 weeks.

Substitutions

For a peanut-free version, substitute the peanut butter with almond butter for a delicious chocolate-covered-almond flavor. For a completely nut-free version, substitute the peanutbutter with sunflower seed butter, and substitute the 1 cup of almonds withof ⅓ cup sunflower seeds, ⅓ pumpkin seeds, and ⅓ oats - you'll lose the pb & chocolate combo but you'll still have a delicious and energizing snack! If you don't have cacao nibs, substitute with2-3 tablespoon of dark chocolate chips.

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Check out howI've been snacking on Superfood BitesviaGarden of Vegan!

{1.} Veganyogurt +superfoods, energy balls, mango, &strawberries.
{2.} Food on the Go: energy balls, fruit salad, Clif bar, and a salad.
{3.} Berry smoothie andenergy balls. {4.} Batch of energy balls.
{5.} Food on the Go: banana,energy balls, and a salad.