Double Chocolate Two Way Power Bites

I had a craving to make energy bites this weekend. I usually make a pretty standard recipe- oats, peanut butter, maybe some chocolate chips, but this time I wanted more chocolate! I decided to channel my inner brownie cravings, and see what I could come up with.

The result was delicious little bites of chocolate heaven! The kicker? They’re completely vegan and gluten free!

After making 12 raw bites, I still had some dough left over, so decided to bake them and see what would happen. Turns out, they were also delish when cooked!

So here it is! A two in one energy bite or cookie recipe! Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 cups gluten free oats

• 1/2 cup dry pitted dates

• 1/2 cup ground flax seed

• 1/4 cup peanut butter

• 1/4 cup cacao powder

• 1 scoop chocolate protein powder of choice (optional)

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 2 tbs pure maple syrup

• 3/4 cup water

• 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips or dark chocolate covered puffed quinoa

Instructions

1. Add rolled the oats, ground flax seed, cacao powder, cinnamon, dried dates, peanut butter, maple syrup and chocolate protein powder to food processor.

2. Pulse until ingredients are blended and oats are finely chopped, almost like flour consistency.

3. Slowly add water to the food process and blend until the mixture sticks together. You may need to add more or less water depending on your energy ball dough.

**Be careful at this step. If you plan to eat the bites raw, too much water will make your bites sticky and hard to handle

4. Add mixture to a large bowl, using your hands mix in chocolate chips.

5. Form the energy bite dough into 1″ balls and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Serve immediately or store in air tight container in refrigerator.

**If you decide to make them into cookies, once they’re rolled into balls place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Press down the tops of each ball with a fork to flatten the cookies just a bit. Bake the cookies for 9 minutes at 400 degrees. Let cool completely and enjoy!