Chocolate Covered Cherry Energy Bites

This easy, no bake snack recipe for Chocolate Covered Cherry Energy Bites is packed with healthy ingredients and contains no added sugar.

Raise your hand if you're still trying to tame the sugar dragon from the holiday season...

Guilty. I try to stick to whole ingredients and avoid foods with processed sugar most of the time, but it's certainly still possible to have a healthy, sweet snack. Enter this new recipe that tastes almost exactly like dessert: Chocolate Covered Cherry Energy Bites.

Remember those chocolate covered cherries that came in a red box? I don't recall the brand, but each sweet cherry was individually wrapped and extremely sweet. {I'm not sure if a real cherry was even involved}. Think of this as the healthy version, with protein from steel cut oats and healthy fats from raw almonds.

I made these energy bites in my food processor while Baby C was napping this morning. They turned out exactly like I hoped! I used unsweetened dried cherries, almonds, steel cut oats, California dates, cocoa powder, almond butter, and vanilla. I also added a sprinkle of espresso powder to bring out the chocolate flavor.

If your dates aren't fresh, I recommend soaking them for at least 2 hours in milk {any kind will work} or adding 1-2 Tablespoons of milk to the food processor. My dates weren't fresh so I added 2 Tablespoons of almond milk before forming these bites.

Simply roll the processed mixture with a medium cookie scoop and you're ready to snack.


Chocolate Covered Cherry Energy Bites
Yields: 14 energy bites

Ingredients~
14 dates {pitted}*
2/3 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup steel cut oats
1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons almond butter
2/3 cup dried cherries
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional: 1/4 teaspoon espresso powder; 2 Tablespoons milk

How to~
*Add all ingredients to a food processor. Process the mixture a few times. Stop the processor and use a spatula to re-combine the mix if needed.
*Keep processing until the ingredients are evenly combined {I use the "pulse" function}.
*Remove from the food processor and use a medium cookie scoop and your hands to form the mix into balls.
*Keep refrigerated in a covered container - the bites should last cooled for one week, and longer if frozen.

*I used California dates, which are smaller than Medjool dates.