New Year’s resolutions. So easy to keep when you’re trying to come down off the Christmas sweets sugar high. But a few weeks into January and those sugar cravings seem to be louder than ever and oh so tempting. I’ve been trying to stay away from baking cookies right now – even for the blog – since having that around the house is just no bueno when I’m working to stick to healthier habits. The time between dinner and going to sleep is when my craving for chocolate starts to creep in, so I’ve been experimenting with new easy-to-make healthier dessert options to have on hand. I’ve seen a lot of protein-ball recipes out there and decided to make a variation on that concept for dessert. These Mint Chocolate Almond Butter Bites are a great bite-sized portion-controlled treat that will satisfy your sweettooth without wreaking havoc on your waistline.
As much as I truly love cookies, not having my band of Boston taste-testers and cookie-runners nearby to get the goods off my hands quickly means the cookies linger around a little bit longer, and obviously have to get eaten. Last week’s Snickerdoodle Almond Butter Granola motivated me to start baking more things for the blog that I actually eat on a regular basis – since contrary to popular belief, The Salted Cookie does not live off cookies alone. Healthy options don’t have to taste like cardboard. I’m finding news ways of making healthy, easy treats that still taste like a treat, without making the time I spend on the spin bike a waste. If you haven’t gotten your hands on a jar of one of the many flavors of Ground Up PDX nut butter, I don’t know what you’re waiting for. My friend Carolyn started the company, and after drooling over her instagrams, I decided to get my hands on a few jars last month to bake with.
After eating a few spoonfuls of this Mint Chocolate Chip Almond and Cashew Butter, I knew I needed to get this into a recipe of some sort quickly. The Mint Chocolate Chip flavor was seasonal and no longer available on the GroundUp website right now, but you can easily make this by using your almond butter of choice and adding in a few drops of mint extract. I prefer regular mint flavor over peppermint, but you can pick whichever floats your boat.
My recipe used a little more wet ingredients than other protein balls I’ve seen, so I decided to add some additional oat flour (by grounding up some old-fashioned oats) to help keep the mixture together better. I have a silicone mini-muffin tin that I spooned even portions of the mixture into and popped into the freezer since my batter was a bit too sticky to form into ball form. But it worked out just as well, and after about 15-20 minutes in the freezer, I popped these bad boys out and voilà! ready to enjoy.
These remind me of a chocolate covered toasted coconut candy I used to get at the Candy Shop in the summers, but at least this version won’t send you into a sugar coma. You can definitely modify the recipe to your liking, and even spoon in some protein powder if you wanted to get a little more bang for your buck with this delicious snack. Gluten-free, no bake, and ready in less than an hour seems like a no-excuse way to stick to your resolutions.
Yield: 20 Bites
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 15 Minutes (Chill)
Total Time: 25 Minutes