A Healthier Snack: Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Balls

If I had one wish I could make – and have it actually come true – it would be that I could eat whatever I want and not have to worry about gaining weight or having to exercise to keep it off. I don’t need to be supermodel thin, but I don’t want to be overweight either.

Generally, I stick to a pretty simple “regimen” (I hate the word diet) during the work week. Some yogurt and fresh fruit for breakfast, a small lunch with protein, veggies, maybe some healthy carbs, and then I try to not eat a lot at dinner. Many times when I come home from work, I’m starving so I eat a spoonful of peanut butter to hold me over.

One day I saw these balls on Pinterest and it got me thinking. So I went ahead and used a calorie calculator to see how they would compare to the peanut butter calorie-wise. Based on the calculations, I could eat 2 of them and it would be less calories and fat – with the chocolate! I've been making them ever since.

I made some adjustments to the original recipe (from gimmesomeoven.com), and I've played around with other variations but this one is the basic one I use most often. Even Brent likes them and he is not a peanut butter chocolate combination fan.

These are very easy to make and the best part about them is they taste good and not really “healthy”. You can’t really beat that in my opinion. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Balls Recipe

*Makes about 30 balls

(printable recipe)

Ingredients:

-          1 ¼ cups whole grain old fashioned oats

-          ½ cup slivered almonds, roughly chopped

-          ½ cup peanut butter

-          ¾ cup ground flaxseed

-          ½ cup dark chocolate chips, room temperature

-          1/3 cup honey

-          1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a sauté pan over low heat toast almonds for roughly 5 minutes, shaking pan occasionally to toss.
2. Meanwhile add remaining ingredients to a mixing bowl with chocolate chips on top. (You want them on top so the warm almonds will slightly melt the chocolate.) Add toasted almonds and stir to combine.
3. Moisten your hands with water. Take a heaping teaspoon of mixture and roll into a ball – about an inch in diameter. Place on a baking sheet and repeat until done.
4. Place sheet in the refrigerator for about an hour to let balls chill. Then move to an airtight container and store for about a week in the refrigerator.