PB&J Energy Bites

- Amanda

The classic PB&J, aka peanut butter and jelly sandwich, is the absolute lunch of choice for my little guys. Who am I kidding, they’d eat it for every meal if they could. Well, unfortunately for them, that doesn’t happen. (We have to ration our beloved peanut butter after all and well eating it everyday might not be the healthiest thing.) Even pre-Covid-19 days, stretching out our peanut butter usage was necessary as there’s only so much we were able to bring back from the states. It’s available here, don’t get me wrong, but not quite the pure sea salt and peanuts kind we like. So that means, we try to enjoy it only maybe once a week.

Well last week, the kids agreed to forego the sandwich and we decided to include some peanut butter in our Banana Peanut Butter & Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies. (Recipe coming soon, promise.) But this week, in honor of National PB&J day, which is today April 2nd, we’re gonna go crazy and not only enjoy the sandwich, but also these PB&J Energy Bites.

Energy bites or balls are still quite the rage and for good reason. We’ve tried many different versions and they always satisfy. They are a small, one (or two) bite healthy protein pick-me-up. They store nicely in the fridge or even longer in the freezer. And the possibilities are endless. Not to mention they’re fun and easy for little (clean) hands to put together.

These PB&J Energy Bites only contain a handful of essential ingredients that I’m guessing you probably have right now- oats, dried fruit (we used dried strawberries & currants) peanut butter and a little salt. The chia and flax seeds are bonus nutrition boosters, but you can swap out anything else you might have like hemp or sunflower seeds, nuts ar anything else of that nature. Honey just adds a little sweetness but maple syrup would be delish or omit it completely. And a little hot water helps bind it all together and voila. Roll them into a ball and pop in the fridge or freezer for a quick & healthy snack later.

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PB&J Energy Bites

Prep Time 15 minutes
Servings 14

Ingredients

  • 1 cup old-fashioned oats
  • 1 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1 tbsp flax seeds
  • 3/4 cup dried fruit (I used dried strawberries & currants)
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter (no sugar added is best)
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 2-3 tbsp hot water

Instructions

  1. Place the oats, chia & flax seeds in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachement and pulse until it resembles a coarse meal.

  2. Add the dried fruit (chop larger dried fruit like apricots first) and salt and pulse until it is all in smaller bits.

  3. Add the peanut butter, honey & 2 tbsps of hot water & pulse until it all comes together. Add another tablespoon of hot water if necessary.

  4. Once it resembles a sticky dough that can hold together when squeezed, scoop into bite-sized rounds using either a cookie scoop or a spoon and roll into balls.

  5. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week or the feezer for about a month.