Posted Apr 14, 2016, Updated Jul 17, 2024 These little balls of chocolatey bliss are crazy delicious and healthy! They’re paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and are only sweetened with date. Simply almonds, dates and a few other ingredients come together beautifully to make a healthy treat to satisfy your sweet tooth. Everyone in my family LOVES these Almond Butter Energy Bites. My husband, who usually doesn’t care for my “healthy” treat options, raves about these. However, My kids think I’m feeding them cookies for a snack. And, I like to enjoy them in the silence that follows all of my babes settling in to their nap/quiet time in the afternoon.
Chocolate Almond Butter Protein Balls: Substitutions
As always I recommend making this recipe exactly as it’s written. But here are a few notes on substitutions:
Almonds: To keep these balls raw choose raw almonds. 1 cup of any nut variety will work in this recipe. To keep it paleo make sure you choose almonds, cashews, pecans or walnuts (i.e. no peanuts)! Almond Butter: Any variety of nut or seed butter will work in this recipe. My two favorites are almond butter and cashew butter. Just be sure to choose a variety that meets your dietary needs. Almond milk: Any variety of non-dairy milk can be used with delicious results. Also, I’ve used coconut milk and cashew milk in this recipe.
How to Make Almond Butter Protein Balls
Process Nuts & Dates Together
First when making paleo energy balls, always start by processing the dates and nuts together. These are the two most difficult ingredients to process, so it’s important to be sure that they’re finely ground and mixed well before adding the rest.
Add the Rest of the Ingredients.
After the nuts and dates are processed well, add the rest of the ingredients and process for about 60 seconds.
Make the Almond Butter Energy Balls
Next, process the ingredients for 30-60 seconds. The mixture will begin to clump together. At this point, it’s time to stop processing because the it is ready to be formed into balls. like to keep these Chocolate Almond Butter Energy Bites small (about 1 TBS of mixture per ball), but you can make them any size you like. Be careful because you do not want to over-process this mixture or the energy bites will turn out greasy. The picture below shows how the optimal “clumpiness” you are looking to achieve for energy bite perfection.
Add a Drizzle or Coating
Finally, you can leave your Chocolate Almond Butter Energy Bites bare, or you can drizzle them with extra almond butter, roll them in coconut, etc.
Store/Freeze
Store these almond butter protein balls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to two months. If you make and love our recipes, it would mean so much to me if you would leave a comment and rating! And don’t forget to follow along with us on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Youtube – be sure to tag @joyfoodsunshine and use the hashtag #joyfoodsunshine so we can see your creations!
