Is there a better way to pack some energy, fibre, and protein into your day than with a snack that tastes like a brownie? These no bake energy balls sound pretty good to me! They are:
Chocolatey, Nutty, Caramely
Ready in 10-15 minutes
They store beautifully in the freezer
And they don't break the bank!
Being Canadian, these energy balls remind me of our famous Tim Hortons bite-sized doughnuts called - timbits! And wouldn't you know, they cost about the same!
Recipe Cost
- This recipe makes 18-20 energy balls and costs us approximately: CAD $3.81 made with dates, and $3.71 made with raisins.
- A 20 pack of timbits costs: CAD $3.99
- And energy balls purchased from a cafe typically cost us: CAD $1.50 each
Ingredients
The great thing about making your own no bake energy balls is that the ingredients can be easily adapted to your preference. You'll need some dry ingredients for the bulk and some wet ingredients to bind it all together.
- These brownie balls use oats and walnuts for the bulk
- Soft dates, peanut butter, and maple syrup as binders
- Cocoa powder for the chocolatey wonder
- And cinnamon and vanilla for a little more brownie flavour!
You can make these nut free by replacing the walnuts with more oats or seeds - sunflower, pumpkin, flax, or sesame seeds would all work well. And replacing the peanut butter with a seed butter or tahini. Depending on your substitutions, you may need to change the amount of the ingredients, so add things slowly to your food processor and adjust the quantities as you go.
Are Dates A Staple In Your Pantry
This recipe calls for pitted deglet noor (or nour) dates. Neither Bryan nor I grew up eating many dates, but boy oh boy do we eat them now!
Dates are the fruit of the date palm tree and you'll find them with the other dried fruits wherever you shop for your groceries. They are often called, "nature's caramel" due to their incredibly sweet, caramel-like flavour. If you want to read more, Bon Appetit has a funny article, "What Are Dates, and Why Are They So Awesome?".
We always have both deglet noor and medjool dates in our fridge.
- Deglet Noor Dates: are pitted, smaller, and lighter in colour. We find they are also lower in price. For this reason, we use them for baking and adding to recipes like these energy balls.
- Medjool Dates: still have their pits, are larger, darker in colour, and melt in your mouth! I'm honestly slipping into a delightful reverie just thinking about how much I love medjool dates. They are so tasty, we reserve these dates for snacking (see the link below) and experiencing their wonder unobstructed by other flavours...
...except for the peanut butter we slather in the middle. Yes... you read that right. Slice the date lengthwise, remove the pit, and fill the centre with peanut butter. Hands down, my favourite snack EVER! Trust me. Try our PB Filled Dates - Fav Fastest Snack In The World and make it a dessert with these Chocolate Covered PB Dates!
How To Make No Bake Energy Balls
Using a food processor is the easiest and quickest way to blend everything together. A stand up blender will work as well, but you may have a harder time blending a thicker batter (if you really have trouble, you could add a bit more water, then remove the mixture and stir in some more ground oats to make it less wet).
Don't have a blender or food processor? Your energy balls will be chunkier, but you can:
- Chop the walnuts into smaller bits
- Combine them with the oats, cocoa powder, and cinnamon
- And either in a pot on the stovetop or in a microwave safe bowl: melt the peanut butter with the maple syrup and vanilla until it becomes a pourable consistency.
- Pour the melted mixture over your dry ingredients. Stir to combine. Then roll into balls or form into bars.
Best Toppings
Toppings make everything so much more fun don't they? I actually tend to keep these brownie balls plain because they are just so tasty on their own but feel free to throw on some toppings!
- Adding chocolate chips to the batter amps up the brownie factor
- Rolling in cocoa powder makes for a really rich, chocolatey taste
- Coconut flakes add another texture and flavour
- And hemp seeds or sesame seeds boost the protein even more!
Depending on the texture of your batter you may have more luck rolling with some ingredients over others. Getting a stickier batter is the key to having the toppings adhere to the outside.
What do you think? Will you get your fibre, protein, and mid-day energy boost with these tasty treats?
For less than a 20 pack of timbits, roll up these no bake brownie energy balls and pack them to go!
Let us know in the comments below if you give these a try and whether you'll keep a constant supply in your freezer!
If these look tasty to you, make sure to check out our Easy No Bake Chip Bars and our Pumpkin Pie Energy Bites!
Print
No Bake Brownie Energy Balls
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 18 - 20 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Pack energy, protein, and fibre into your day with a snack that tastes like a brownie! Try these quick and easy no bake energy balls!
Ingredients
- 1 cup walnuts (or half almonds, half walnuts)
- 1 ½ cup quick oats, 155g (can use rolled oats)
- ½ cup pitted deglet noor dates or raisins (soaked for 5 minutes if too dry)
- ⅛ cup cocoa powder
- ⅛ cup peanut butter
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- sprinkle of sea salt
- ⅛ - ½ cup water (reserve the water your dates soaked in)
- optional: ¼ cup chocolate chips, dairy-free
- optional toppings: coconut flakes or more cocoa powder
*All the ingredients for this recipe are from our pantry and freezer tips!
Instructions
- If your dates or raisins are quite hard, soak them in hot water for about 5 minutes to make them easier to break down.
- While you soak your dates, pulse the walnuts and oats in your food processor until they are broken down. Careful to not over process them because you still need to add in the remaining ingredients and mix again.
- Add the cocoa powder, peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and dates to the food processor and mix to combine.
- Scrape down the sides of the food processor if needed and slowly add water to reach the desired texture. The amount of water will depend on the runniness of your peanut butter and the softness of your dates. I added ¼ cup. You can leave the mixture a little chunkier if you prefer but I make mine a soft, smoother dough. It’s still easy to roll into a ball without being too sticky and has a closer brownie texture.
- If adding chocolate chips, transfer the mixture to another bowl and mix in the chocolate chips.
- Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, scoop the dough and roll it into a ball between your hands.
- These are really tasty as is, but you can roll the balls in more cocoa powder for an extra rich chocolatey taste or try coconut flakes.
- You can enjoy them immediately but I like them best when frozen. I leave them in the freezer and take one out whenever I like. They stay soft enough to eat right out of the freezer and will keep for weeks (if they aren’t eaten up within a few days that is).
Notes
Approximate Cost: CAD $3.81 with dates, $3.71 with raisins. Not too shabby considering a 20 pack of timbits is CAD $3.99 and energy bites from your cafe will typically be about CAD 1.50 each.
*To make these as bars instead of balls: Pack the mixture evenly into an 8 inch square pan lined with parchment paper (the paper makes them easier to lift out once frozen and wetting your fingertips with warm water will make the sticky dough easier to pack down). Place in the freezer for at least 10 minutes to harden slightly. Cut into bars and freeze until ready to use. Makes 10-12 large 4 inch bars, 20-24 medium 2 inch bars, or 40-48 mini bites great for young kids!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Snacks
- Method: No-Bake
- Cuisine: American
L. Thomas
Hello. I need to know the nutritional information for this recipe if possible. Thanks
Kathryn Alexandre
I haven't focused on calculating the nutrition info for my recipes but it is something I will keep in mind. I quickly punched this one into a free app called "Cronometer" which I have found helpful for generally tracking my nutrition and exercise. For 1 of these energy balls without the optional chocolate chips and considering the recipe makes 19 for you; I calculated 2.2g protein, 7.3g carbs, 4.8g fat and 82 calories. There's also 0 cholesterol, high omega and manganese, a good amount of B vitamins, and 6% fibre to give you a quick idea. Definitely try out cronometer if this is an interest for you. You can create recipes and save the ingredients you use often to track your daily totals. I hope this was helpful.
Andy
Hi Kathryn! Find I have better luck with recipes when the ingredients are in grams, rather than cups. Do you by chance have the weight of the ingredients in this recipe?
Kathryn Alexandre
Hi Andy, yes! At the top of the recipe card (just above the ingredients on the right hand side) there is a button to change the unit of measurement from cups to metric. All the ingredients will switch to weight for you. I hope you enjoy them!
Andy
Perfect, Kathryn! Don't know how I missed that. I must say your website is the only one that I have seen that provides this option - way to go!
Andy
Hi Kathryn, when I used 60 grams or rolled oats, that is more like half cup rolled oats. Your recipe uses 1 1/2 cup of rolled oats, which probably is 150-160 grams. Is the 60 grams in the metric version a typo?
Kathryn Alexandre
Ah, yes I'm so sorry. The plugin for our recipe cards calculates the conversion automatically and sometimes I notice these inconsistencies. In my newer recipes I have been double checking everything and typing the correct conversion in myself but this one slipped past me as it is an older recipe of mine. I have updated the recipe card to reflect the correct conversion and I'm sorry for the confusion. Thank you so much for bringing it to my attention Andy!