Filled with peanut butter and chocolate, these easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Snack Balls are a fun and delicious snack!
Have you ever made snack balls before?
Most snack balls are made with a large amount of dates. When dates are blended in a food processor, they are sticky and sweet, helping create the base of a snack ball that sticks together extremely well.
I’m a bit of a rebel without a cause though 😉 and I’m not the biggest fan of using dates, especially in higher quantities, because dates are a form of sugar. I use dates from time to time, and I do enjoy date-based snack balls, but I don’t make them a part of my daily routine.
Instead of dates, you know what one of my favorite things are, right? If you frequent Mile High Mitts then you know the answer is oats! 🙂
Oats and nut butter combine to make the perfect little snack balls, or homemade granola bars. These are lightly sweetened with honey, and filled with good-for-you ingredients like oats, almonds, and flax seed.
Added bonus: Chocolate and peanut butter. I mean, have you ever met a better flavor combination? (Chocolate and almond butter are close behind for me though!)
So, how do you make snack balls?
Let’s get to it! To begin, you’ll need a large mixing bowl. To the mixing bowl add all of your dry ingredients: oats, finely chopped almonds, cocoa powder, ground flax seed and salt. Stir together till everything is well combined and you don’t have any chunks of cocoa powder.
Now, you’ll need a microwave safe bowl. To the bowl you’ll add your peanut butter and honey, stir them together, and lightly microwave them till they are slightly warm and more drippy. These snack balls can be made in one mixing bowl, without this step, but I’ve found that softening the peanut butter and honey together really helps when you stir everything together.
Add your vanilla to your wet ingredients, and stir together. Finally, pour your wet ingredients into the bowl with your dry ingredients and stir/fold them all together till everything is well combined.
At this point, check the “batter” of your snack balls. If the batter is too dry you may want to add a tablespoon or more of honey or nut butter, to get them to your favorite consistency.
Using a small cookie scoop, tightly scoop a snack ball, and release it into your hand to completely roll the snack ball into a complete ball (rather than the cookie dough ball shape).
Continue till all of your snack balls have been made, and devour! 🙂
I love how easy these snack balls are to make and that they quickly fill you up because of the hearty oats inside! My kids also love helping make these (my 1 year old thinks these are the best!).
I hope you think these are the best too 🙂
Ready for more snack ideas? Check out my no bake, gluten-free Orange Coconut Granola Bars, gluten-free Maple Pecan Granola Bars or gluten-free Chai Snack Balls.
- 1 cup oats, certified gluten-free
- 1 cup almonds, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup flax seed, ground
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
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In a large mixing bowl, pour all of your dry ingredients in and stir them together (oats, almonds, cocoa powder, flax seed, salt).
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In a small, microwaveable bowl, add your peanut butter and honey and microwave slightly till the mixture is creamy and more runny. Add your vanilla and stir to combine.
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Pour your wet ingredients into the bowl with your dry ingredients and fold your ingredients together until everything is well incorporated.
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Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out tightly packed balls of the snack ball mixture, to create each snack ball. After you scoop out the snack ball, release it into your hand and roll it, to help the ingredients stick together better. Continue till all snack balls have been rolled out.
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Devour!
Stored in an airtight container in the fridge, these last about a week.
is it necessary to add flax seed? I don’t care for the taste.
No, you can go ahead and omit it.
Once you put honey in the microwave you destroy all the health properties if it’s raw unrefined honey. Actually dates are a whole fruit and much lower on the glycemic index than honey even the liquid and granular sugar from date lady is a whole fruit it is not refined in the process
Love that these are sugar free. What an easy snack idea.
These look yummy & easy! Curious if I can swap cocoa powder with vegan chocolate Shakeology protein powder. Have you tried this? Thanks!
Hi Deanna. I haven’t tried that, but I think it should work just fine. You may need to add a little water to help them stick together better, depending on the consistency of your protein powder. Sounds delicious, I hope it works well!
Can I swap maple syrup for the honey?
As long as your peanut butter is thick, that should work ok!
Could I just use almond flour instead of the chopped almonds?
Hi Cindy. I think that should work just fine!
Mine were a little dry, so I added 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil. They rolled up nicely and stayed in a nice firm ball after refrigerating. YUMMY!!
Hi there, just curious if you know what the protein content of each ball would be?
Hi Marla. I’m sorry but I don’t. You can google a nutrition calculator though and enter in the ingredients to find out if you want.
these look good. Do you know if you can freeze them?
Hi Cheryl. I haven’t tried freezing these before. I would guess they would hold up fine, as long as you defrosted them in the fridge (not on the counter). I would also recommend double bagging them so they don’t get freezer burn. Hope this helps!
Delicious, thanks so much. My current recipe calls for 10 dates that about 300 grams of sugar
Happy I can help, Susan! There are so many snack balls made with such large amounts of dates, it can be hard to find one without I think.