Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookie Energy Bites with Chia + Cacao Nibs
Looking for a healthy snack? Try these easy, no bake cookie energy bites that taste just like a scrumptious oatmeal peanut butter cookie. The chia & cacao nibs add nutrition, fiber and protein!
Do you wanna know what my eating routine was all last week? (Even if you don’t, I’m still going to tell you.)
Well, it’s pretty basic: Eating at the Whole Foods salad bar and shoveling these no bake oatmeal peanut butter cookie energy bites into my mouth at an extremely fast pace.
From last week’s eating adventures, I’ve learned two things: 1) It’s astonishing how much you can spend on a salad bar AND 2) I absolutely plan on making these energy bites every week for the rest of summer. Because once summer is over, it’s BAKING season (not that it ever ended for me).
Initially I had planned on making these as granola bars, but as soon as I played with the consistency, they ended up working much better as energy bites. And I have to admit, I’m a HUGE fan. They were the perfect pre-workout fuel and basically an any-time kind of snack. And this girl’s got to have her snacks.
How long do energy bites last in the fridge?
These cookie energy bites will last for 5-7 days in the fridge. A great perk about these bites is that they’re also freezer friendly! I actually eat them straight out of the freezer because they’re still chewy and delicious and taste like cold cookie dough that I want to live in. I don’t know?
What ingredients do you need for these cookie energy bites?
These cookie energy bites only need a few simple ingredients like Medjool dates, oats (gluten free if desired), pure maple syrup, and peanut butter. To make these bites more nutritious, I added in both chia seeds and cacao nibs. Both provide an excellent source of nutrients including fiber, omega-3 and protein, which is exactly the reason I called these energy bites. And it’s an extra bonus that they actually do taste like a giant serving of oatmeal peanut butter cookie dough.
I know my love for peanut butter is out of control. Kind of like my love for Justin Bieber. Uhhhh did I just say that? #belieber
More no bake snacks you might like:
5 minute Peanut Butter Protein Energy Bites
Salted Date Brownie Energy Bites
No Bake, Chewy Peanut Butter Granola Bars
If you make anything from AK, be sure to tag #ambitiouskitchen on Instagram — I love seeing your creations and featuring followers! You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Snapchat (username: ambitiouskitch).
Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookie Energy Bites with Chia + Cacao Nibs
Looking for a healthy snack? Try these easy, no bake cookie energy bites that taste just like a scrumptious oatmeal peanut butter cookie. The chia & cacao nibs add nutrition, fiber and protein!
Ingredients
- 6 large Medjool dates, pitted (about 1/2 cup packed pitted dates)
- 2 1/2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup all natural creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup oats
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 2 tablespoons cacao nibs
Instructions
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In a large bowl, stir together oats, chia seeds and cacao nibs. Set aside.
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Add dates and water to the bowl of a food processor and process a few times until dates begin to break down a bit and form a paste. Next add in maple syrup, vanilla and peanut butter; process again until it begins to look like a wet cookie dough and ingredients are well combined.
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Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon. I like to use my hands because it's much easier to get everything mixed well. I know it's a little messy, so my advice is to coat your hands with a small amount of coconut oil so that the dough doesn't stick.
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Once the ingredients are well combined, form into 1 inch balls. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Balls will last for 5-7 days or can be frozen for up to a month.
Recipe Notes
If you'd like, you can always use mini chocolate chips instead of cacao nibs, just know that the nutrition may be slightly different.
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39 comments
Do you think a normal blender be okay instead of a food processor? These look delicious and I would love to try them!
That’s a great question. You might be able to process the dates in the blender if it’s a high-powered one. Let me know if you try it!
I tried the blender (Vitamix) and it worked, but it took a little extra work pulling the dates back out from under the blade because they are so dense.
These look amazing Monique! I make your 4-ingredient oatmeal chocolate chip energy bites once a week and devour them – but I also add shredded coconut and chia seeds. I recently posted about how much I love them on my blog – I would love for you to check it out! https://withlovefromellie.wordpress.com/2015/08/06/no-bake-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-energy-bites/
I love no-bake bites! They are the perfect healthy snack.
Oh my goodness! These taste like cookie dough? I need them in my life!!
These sounds like a perfect pre-workout snack!! Definitely on my “must make” list.
Monique! I stalk your website every day and love your recipes! Looking at buying a food processor but don’t know what brand to buy. Wondering what model you use?
Hi! This is a great one: http://amzn.to/1EEYllt (It’s my Amazon affiliate link!)
I just love these types of recipes. I make something similar but with almond butter, coconut and pecans. They’re so satisfying when you’re craving something sweet. I’m going to make these next :)!
what a great & healthy snack! Perfect for right after the gym, on the way to an activity… perfect for a quick snack in between meals. And such little prep/no-cook time… wonderful recipe!
Obsessed! I need these in my belly now! Perfect snack for pre-workout fuel
I want to try these asap. I think they must be perfect for school lunches. Plus so pretty!!
I love energy bites and eat them often after work outs!
I’ve been looking around for some healthy preworkout snacks and these energy bites look perfect! 🙂
I love bites like these — especially when there’s chia seeds and cacao nibs involved.
These bites look like the perfect craving tamers!
Just made these and they are SO good!
I made these with almond butter and they were very good. Next time I will roll them in toasted sesame seeds!
Made these! They hardly made it to the freezer for later. *drools*
Ok so I just made these and the good news is that they’re really delicious! But the bad news is that they were SUPER messy to make. Even though I liberally oiled my hands before rolling them, I feel like I still spent more time scraping the sticky paste off my fingers than forming the balls. Next time I will just press them into the bottom of a lined square pan and cut them into energy squares instead of balls. Should save myself lots of time and frustration.
Okay, can I just say these are deliciously amazing!!
These are so delicious! For some reason, mine had too many dry ingredients and not enough paste to form all the balls though. I will try cutting back on the oats next time.
Hi. Tongue in cheek. You say these will last 6 – 7 days in the refrigerator – how? My grand kids found them and 5 – 7 minutes was about it !
Haha well that sounds like a good problem to have 🙂 Glad they loved them!
I made these with almond butter instead of peanut butter. Really good!
I made these and my husband and I devoured them. Will be making more again soon. They’re an easy go to snack thats quick, easy and healthy. Thank you!
Delicious! Such a great snack.
Is the nutrition information per bite, or for all 14 or 15 bites?
It’s per bite!
Thank you for coming up with protein items that Bariatric Patients can enjoy. We are typically restricted to <10 g fat, <20 g total carbs, < 10g sugar per serving. Someone posted a cookie recipe you had but it was too high in carbs. These are perfect! I may add a scoop of genpro to up the protein a bit more too. Thank you!!!!
Absolutely! Glad you found these – such a great snack or treat!
These came out really tasty! I used the sweetened cacao nibs (the only ones available at substitute Sunbutter for the peanut butter
These came out really tasty! I used sweetened cacao nibs because that’s what my store had, and substituted Sunbutter for the peanut butter (peanuts give me really bad heartburn lately…) – which is why i think mine came out a little wetter than yours look, in the future i might try adding a tablespoon or two of coconut flour to dry it up a bit. Now to keep myself from eating them all in one sitting!
Sunbutter does have a different texture than peanut butter, but I’m glad you liked these regardless! Great idea with a bit of coconut flour 🙂
These were so good!!
Glad you loved them!
These energy bites don’t last 5-7 days in the fridge given how delicious they are! Your whole family will be demolishing these cookies in no time! Incredible recipe in both its simplicity, healthiness and its deliciousness. Will be making these on a regular basis to replace my morning Clif Bars 🙌 Thank you!
So glad they were a hit! Perfect snack 🙂