Almond butter energy balls recipe made with whole ingredients for a healthy boost with no added sugar or artificial sweetener.
Last year, I posted this recipe for fruit-sweetened energy bites. Since then, I’ve received a number of requests for a variation that uses almond butter instead of peanuts.
After a bit of experimenting, I came up with this alternative version below.
It uses almond butter (either roasted or sprouted) for a seriously tasty snack. I enjoy one or two mid-morning or mid-afternoon (if made with carob) for a quick pick-me-up.
Enjoying them while sipping a homemade fermented beverage is a true luxury worth the effort to experience!
I recommend using sprouted or soaked almond butter because it is the easiest for your digestion. You can really feel the difference in your stomach!
In a pinch, you can use roasted almond butter instead. Roasting reduces the anti-nutrients in almonds, but not as much as soaking or sprouting.
It is important to avoid raw almond butter as it is far too high in anti-nutrients like phytates and oxalic acid!
The enzymes you lose by roasting the almonds are more than offset by the improvement in digestibility.
This is why soaked or sprouted almond butter is the best choice. It preserves the raw benefits of the almonds while significantly reducing the anti-nutrient load.
When it comes to cocoa, raw cacao, or carob powder, choose whichever traditional food suits your needs best. Roasted cocoa powder makes for the tastiest combination that is lower in oxalic acid than raw cacao.
However, those sensitive to caffeine should definitely use carob. The sweetness of the dates hides the bitterness very well.
Almond Butter Energy Balls
Almond butter cocoa snack recipe made with only 5 whole food ingredients for a boost with no added sugar or artificial sweetener.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup almond butter preferably sprouted and/or soaked
- 1 cup pureed dates (date paste) use coupon code healthyhome
- 1/4 cup carob, cocoa, or cacao powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 pinch coarse sea salt
- 1-2 Tbl almond flour
Instructions
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Mix all of the ingredients together in a large glass bowl. I like to lightly oil my hands with coconut oil and knead the ingredients together by hand instead of using a mixer.
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Roll the batter into small balls of about 1 inch thickness. Tip: to make the balls very quickly, take a small amount of the batter and roll it around in your palms … each ball only takes a few seconds and they are perfectly round!
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Lightly roll each ball in almond flour which adds an enjoyable texture experience to each bite. You can either use blanched almond flour from the store or pulse 4-5 sprouted or roasted almonds in a coffee grinder to it make fresh.
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Store in the the refrigerator in a covered container. They last for several weeks.
My mom used to make these for me when I was a child, she said they were sweets. And we rolled them in grated chocolate. But I don’t remember what’s inside. Honey, I think it was lemon. It was delicious. We should try to make and treat her, and at the same time ask her for the recipe, if she remembers it.
I am unable to eat carob as it is a legume and gives me a sore throat. Cacao is fine for me, though.
I just made these and they are so good! They’ll definitely be added to the rotation in our household. Just a tip for anyone who chooses to make their own date paste (which was really easy to do) – be sure that your paste is on the thicker side, like more than you think it should be. My balls were very difficult to work with and wouldn’t hold their shape . I can only attribute this to the fact that perhaps my paste was a little on the thin side. Needless to say, they still tasted amazing even if they weren’t the perfect shape 😉
These look delicious. Do you know how many sugar grams are in each ball? I’m counting grams daily and would like to try these as a treat. I know dates are fairly high in sugar.
Thank you!
Hi Betsy, there are 7 grams of whole fruit sugar per ball from the pureed date paste. There are no added sugars.