There are certain things a girl should never have to give up, especially on her birthday. These include: chocolate, peanut butter, coffee, cinnamon, and carbs.
Which brings me to Birthday Amaze-Bites. If given the choice between cake or cookie, I'd rather have a cookie any day. And when enjoying said cookie, I want it packed with "stuff," from coconut and raisins to chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, oats, etc. The Kitchen Sink cookie from Fresh Market? My idea of heaven in edible disc form.
So on Sunday, kicking off my 35th Birthday Week and hit with the urge to bake, I threw together some of my "can't live without treat" ingredients and put a healthy spin on them. The result: Birthday Amaze-Bites.These are kind of like a chocolate covered cherry in healthy cookie ball form. They are Amaze-balls delish!!!
The base is fresh ground almond butter, oats and 2 scoops of EAS chocolate whey protein powder -- plus the mix-in treats of coconut, unsweetened cocoa powder and dark chocolate chips (antioxidants!), espresso powder (caffeine!), cinnamon, agave nectar, and dried cranberries soaked in pomegranate juice. I baked a few of them, but these are just as yummy "raw" and enjoyed after a rest in the freezer.
Nutritionally speaking, these are close to the no-bake protein bars I eat for breakfast and are an ideal mix of carbs, fat, and protein. So yes, you could totally eat these for breakfast and not guilt over it AT ALL. ;)
Birthday Amaze-Bites
Ingredients
- 2 scoops chocolate whey EAS powder
- 1/2 cup fresh ground almond butter
- 1/3 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- 1/3 cup Craisins (pomegranate juice soaked variety)
- 3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 Tbsp agave nectar
- 2 Tbsp cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp espresso powder
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3-4 Tbsp cold water
Preparation
1. Combine all ingredients together in a big bowl. Use your hands to mix and blend everything together. The dough will be thick, sticky.
2. Divide into 9 balls, rolling each to make them uniform and placing on a foil-lined cookie sheet.
3. Two options: Place the cookie sheet in the freezer and enjoy these throughout the week as is, like raw chilled cookie dough. Or bake on a nonstick cookie sheet for 15 minutes or so at 350 degrees. (This will melt the chocolate chips into gooey awesomeness!
Nutritional info (when serving 9 Amaze-Bites from the batch; you can also divide this into 12 servings)
- Calories: 235
- Fat: 3.4 grams
- Protein: 4 grams
- Sugar: 10 grams
- Carbs: 12 grams
Coming next week: A new cycling profile and playlist that rolls steep and low, big and fast, for a big challenge; and 5 exercises, 5 ways, for endless workouts!...