Tag: dates

Energy Balls #4 Peanut, Oats, Dates & Chocolate

I think this might be the last energy ball recipe I try! This is the 4th on I have made to see which one I like best!  I prefer the first one that I made… All of these little balls are a great snack, if someone wants something sweet without any added sugar. Check out this recipe for energy balls #4 & let me know which recipe you prefer…if you haven’t tried any of the others I will include a link to them all below.

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Marilyn Dishes1 Comment

Peanut Energy Balls #3

This recipe is also from Deliciously Ella ( the Sesame Vanilla Energy Balls were from this site)  Dates, oats, peanut butter & peanuts. I checked the calories & the roasted peanuts added so many! The calorie count for 1 cup of dry roasted peanuts is 854! Certainly gets me thinking about grabbing a few handfuls of roasted peanuts! I did a very unscientific & I am sure not accurate estimation of the calorie count of these energy balls by calculating the calories in the amount of dates, oats,peanut butter & peanuts that go into this recipe. Then I divided that number by 25, this recipe made 25 balls, 2 tbsp of mix per ball & came up with approximately 100 calories for each ball. That’s not too bad, but it is the peanuts that upped the count … there is no added sugar & I used natural peanut butter. The original recipe gives the amount for the ingredients by weight, I have weighed them out & measured them in cups so I am putting that here. I have not figured out the calories counts of the other 2 types of energy balls that I have made so far. If you are interested let me know & I can do the same thing for each of them..but remember, this is no way an accurate thing! This recipe called for coconut oil, which I don’t have so I added the amount called for in the recipe with more natural peanut butter

Here is the link to the recipe on Deliciously Ella

https://deliciouslyella.com/peanut-butter-energy-balls/

Here is the recipe without the coconut oil that the original recipe called for. But that is the only change I have made…this recipe is not mine

Peanut Energy Balls

3 cups pitted dates

1 cup quick oats

1 cup roasted peanuts

4 tbsp natural peanut butter

Method

1. Cut the dates in half to ensure that there are no pits left

2. Put the prepared dates, oats, peanuts & peanut butter into a food processor & process until finely minced. Mine mixture did not form into a pasty ball, but when I tried to form a ball with the mixture it held together so I knew it was processed enough

3.Take the blade out of the food processor so you don’t cut your fingers!

4.Form the mixture into balls any size you like. I use 2 tbsp of mixture to form my balls & i got 25 ball

5. Put the balls into the fridge to firm up, bit I ate a couple of right away!

6 .The original recipe from Deliciously Ella says they last a few weeks in the fridge or freeze them to keep longer

Enjoy!



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Marilyn Dishes1 Comment

Sesame Vanilla Energy Balls #2

Here is #2 in my trying different energy balls!

Jacki told me about this recipe, there are 2 more from this website that I will try..the website is Deliciously Ella. The only change I made from the original recipe is that I did not have vanilla powder so I used liquid vanilla. The ingredients are given by weight in the original recipe. I weighed & measured all the ingredients so I am going to give you the ingredients by cups instead of weight. But this is in no way my recipe. All credit goes to DeliciouslyElla & I thank her because I really liked this. They are nut free so can go to school with kids if they have to only bring nut free snacks!!

Here is the link to the recipe

https://deliciouslyella.com/sesame-and-vanilla-nut-free-energy-balls/

Sesame Vanilla Energy Balls

3 1/2 cups pitted dates

1/3 cup pumpkin seeds *** a heaping 1/3 cup!

1/2 cup of sunflower seeds

1 cup quick oats

2 tsp vanilla

4 tsp tahini

1/4 cup of sesame seeds ***the original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of sesame seeds but I had 1/4 cup left over so start with 1/4 cup & add more if you need  These are to coat the balls

 

Method  ( my method()

  1. Cut the dates in half, I use kitchen scissors, by cutting pitted dates in half before using them you ensure that there are no pits in them! I did not always do this but one time there was a pit that got crushed up in the food processor & I had to throw the whole thing out. I think it was for some date squares years ago….
  2. Put all of the ingredients into a food processor & process until finely mixed. Mine did not form into a ball around the food processor blade but when I tried to stick it together I could form it into a ball  so that was ok. If your mixture does not form a ball when you gather it in your hand, add some more dates. The recipe I gave here has some extra dates added, so the original recipe is different
  3. Take the balde out of your food processor so you do not cut you fingers!!!
  4. Form the mixture into same size balls…I got 24 using approx 2 tbsp of mixture.
  5. Put the sesame seeds into a dish.
  6. Roll the balls in the sesame seeds  Teh sesame seed didnt stick to the mixtue very wasily so just press them in. I put some sesame seeds in the palm of my hand & preddes them
  7. I froze some since I didnt want to eat all 24 in a few days…

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Marilyn Dishes2 Comments

Date & Cocoa Energy Balls

I am going to check out a few energy ball recipes so this one is

NUMBER 1

Who doesn’t need more energy?? Or a healthy snack? The original recipe for these are from Minimalistbaker.com. My grandkids love these as a snack so I thought they would be great for some friends of mine who are vegan. I was going to visit them & knew these would be a perfect treat to take over. They don’t like to give their kids sugar & the original recipe calls for dairy-free dark chocolate. All of my vegan chocolate I do have in the house has brown sugar added…so I used cocoa powder instead of the chocolate. I didn’t have any chia seeds, so as suggested in the recipe I used flax. I had to add extra dates as the mixture was a bit too dry. i am going to give you the link to the original recipe & below the link the substitutions I made.

http://minimalistbaker.com/5-ingredient-peanut-butter-cup-energy-bites/

Here is the ingredient list I used

1 1/4 cup pitted dates, cut in half to make sure there were no pits

3 tbsp natural peanut butter with peanuts pieces

1 tbsp flax seed

2/3 cu quick oats

1 tbsp cocoa powder

Method

Mix together in a food processor & then form into balls. I used a cookie scoop.

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Marilyn Dishes5 Comments

Granola Bars!

I am a big fan of Smitten Kitchen & very often make the recipes that are posted by her. I saw this recipe the other day, it is not the first time she has posted it & I have always thought it looked good.We are travelling soon & I  was going to buy a box of granola bars to take some on the plane, but decided to make these instead! One of the things I like about this recipe is the flexibility of the ingredients. I added chopped up dates & walnuts. They are addictive! Hopefully we won’t eat them all before we get on the plane!

Here is the link to the original recipe

https://smittenkitchen.com/2010/02/thick-chewy-granola-bars/

Here is my recipe adapted from  Smittenkitchen.com   thick chewy granola bars

 

Date & Walnut Granola Bars

Ingredients

1 2/3 cup quick oats

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup oat flour   *** as per the original recipe, put oats in the food processor and process until they are a fine texture

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup dates, chopped

1/2 cup coconut

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

6 tbsp melted butter

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 tbsp corn syrup

1 tbsp water

1/3 cup natural chunky peanut butter *** I used Adams peanut butter … left over from some  peanut butter cookies I baked

 

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 350f

Line an 8×8 square pan with parchment paper letting it hang over 2 sides to pull the granola bars out of the pan when they are cool…spray the parchment paper with cooking spray for easy release of the bars

  1. Mix the oats, sugar, oat flour, salt, cinnamon, dates, coconut, walnuts & sunflower seeds together in a large bowl
  2. Combine the melted butter, maple syrup, corn syrup. water & peanut butter together
  3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing until all the dry ingredients are moist
  4. Put into the prepared pan & pat down firmly, I wet my hands a bit just so that they didn’t get too sticky.
  5. Bake for approx 35 to 40 minutes until brown around the edges. I baked mine for the whole 40 minutes because I like crunchy edges!
  6. When finished baking, place the pan on a wire rack to cool completely.  Remove from the pan by lifting with the parchment paper. Place on a firm surface and cut into your desired size & shape of bar. I used a knife that was not serrated. They crumbled a bit so I just held them together as I cut them. ***I couldn’t wait until they were completely cool because I wanted to eat one…so mine were just slightly warm still & I think that helped with the crumbling as I could just put them back together since they were still a bit pliable.

 

 

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