These peanut butter cookie dough energy bites are flourless, grain-free, gluten-free and naturally sweetened with honey. You only need 5 ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry!
These are probably my simplest energy bites yet. And you would not believe how fast they were eaten. They’re like cookie dough so I think you can assume how awesome these are.
I realize I usually stay away from anything processed, but in this case we had some Halloween candy still hanging around that I wanted to use up.
I can guarantee these are just as yummy with your favorite dark chocolate chips, or even cacao nibs. Or go a completely different route with dried fruit, chopped nuts or seeds. Really, you can do anything with these.
Don’t they even look like cookie dough? Yum!
If you missed them, here are my original energy bites(with a kind of “formula” that you can adapt to what you like) and a chocolate version.
Just a quick note, don’t use coconut flour in these. You’ll need to actually grind up your regular shredded coconut to get the right texture.
If you don’t mind grains, check out the original energy bites I linked to, or you can always use rolled oats or even oat bran, wheat germ or whatever else you can think of that’s similar.
Grain-Free, Cookie Dough Energy Bites
Ingredients
- 1/2 C natural peanut butter
- 1/4 C honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch sea salt
- 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 C unsweetened shredded coconut ground in a blender or food processor
- 1/2 - 3/4 C chocolate chips cacao nibs, m&m's or smarties, or dried fruit or chopped nuts
Instructions
- Gently warm the peanut butter and honey if needed and stir together. Add the vanilla and sea salt and stir well.
- Measure and then grind the coconut just until finely ground. Add the coconut to the peanut butter mixture and stir well adding as much as needed up to 1 3/4 cups. The mixture will still be sticky.
- When completely combined, add any extra addins(chocolate chips, etc) and stir in. Cool the mixture before adding chocolate chips if it's still warm as the chips will melt.
- Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or until firm enough to handle. Or refrigerate overnight and remove from the fridge for 30 minutes or so until soft enough to roll into balls. Scoop spoon sized pieces and roll into balls.
- Place in a container and store in the fridge until ready to enjoy.
Notes
Feel free to reduce the amount of honey slightly, just be sure to add a little extra nut butter or reduce the amount of ground coconut and addins. These are fairly sweet so even half as much honey would still be sweet enough.
Almond butter is a great alternative to the peanut butter used in these.
If the bites are too soft to pile up in a container, to store, place on a plate or baking sheet and chill in the fridge before transferring them to a container to store.
Comments & Reviews
Machelle says
SO yummy! Thanks for a quick little cookie dough substitution 🙂
Andrea says
Just made these yummo I used almond extract instead of vanilla super good and added flaked coconut along with chocolate chips very good
The Healthy Apple says
These look amazing; just found your site through one of my great friends and I love your work and recipes…your photos are beautiful.
Happy Holidays!
Erin @ Texanerin Baking says
They’re so colorful! I would happily eat these. Artificial coloring doesn’t deter me one bit. 🙂 And how interesting with the coconut. I would have never imagined that coconut could produce something like this.
Anna (Hidden Ponies) says
Ooh, I’m trying these today! Love the ground coconut idea, saves me going to buy coconut flour 🙂
Heather says
Love the ingredient list- so simple, these look like they could be addicting!
Julie says
Do you think that protein powder could be added to these? The recipe looks great!
Rachel (Two Healthy Plates) says
These look delicious! I’ve seen many similar recipes around blogland and keep meaning to make some – it would be a perfect treat for my husband!
Kathryn says
These sound really delicious. I’ve just a got a food processor too so I can’t wait to try these!
chinmayie @ love food eat says
Yum! It looks so good.
Ari @ Ari's Menu says
Heidi, these look amazing!! They look so gooey like the perfect cookie dough that you just want to eat straight out of the bowl! I will definitely be giving these a try.
Gina @ Running to the Kitchen says
These look so good, Heidi! The grain free thing is right up my alley right now 🙂
Maryea {Happy Healthy Mama} says
I love this simple recipe! I can tell just by looking at the pictures and the ingredients that I will love these. 🙂
Eat Good 4 Life says
I am loving these little balls 🙂 They look much more festive with the M&M’s….today I used M&M’s for the first time ever in one of my cookies and I hate using them because of the artificial colors in them. I need to find a substitute….they just look so good though 🙂
Heidi @ Food Doodles says
I feel the exact same way! I never even buy them usually, but since I had them laying around after Halloween…. As much as I hate the artificial colors, I do hate wasting too so I thought I’d use them up instead of just throwing them out. They are so pretty though! I hate it when I feel so conflicted about food, haha!