Recipe – Peanut Butter Chia Oatmeal Energy Bites

Continuing on the peanut butter theme from the last recipe post, I’ve developed a recipe for some peanut butter chia oatmeal energy bites! With Booker being on a tight 2-3hr feeding schedule, sometimes Minhan and I just need a quick and nutritious snack to keep us going. These energy bites are packed with healthy carbs, fiber, and protein.

The Batter

I used oatmeal for the first few iterations of this recipe, but found the batter too thick. Since I still wanted oats in the recipe in some form, I decided to substitute the whole wheat flour for oat flour. At 10% fiber and 17% protein per serving, oat flour really packs a nutritious punch! As usual, I use peanut butter that only has dry roasted peanuts as an ingredient – no additives. That means another 22% protein and 9% fiber per serving. It is a calorie-rich ingredient, but the calories are not unhealthy! Using maple syrup and farm fresh eggs rounds off the better choices for ingredients.

As always, mix the dry and wet ingredients separately, then combine them. The only exception in this recipe is with the dried chia seeds. I normally add the chia seeds to the liquids right before mixing with the dry ingredients. However, if you want to let the chia seeds expand a bit, I suggest soaking them in a bit of the maple syrup for 5min or so before adding to the rest of the liquids. Chia seeds really makes these peanut butter chia oatmeal energy bites such a nutritious snack. To give you an idea, here are the nutrition facts for the 2 tbsp used in this recipe, courtesy of healthline:

Fiber: 11 grams (39% per serving)
Protein: 4 grams (14% per serving)
Fat: 9 grams (32% per serving, 5g of which are healthy omega-3s).
Calcium: 18% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI).
Manganese: 30% of the RDI.
Magnesium: 30% of the RDI.
Phosphorus: 27% of the RDI.

They also contain a decent amount of zinc, vitamin B3 (niacin), potassium, vitamin B1 (thiamine) and vitamin B2. 

Here are the dry and wet ingredients, separated:

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And here is the combined batter:

The Bake

This batter is pretty sticky and won’t spread at all in the oven. Here’s what it looks like before the bake:

…and after the bake:

Gooey Goodness

And here’s what one looks like freshly broken out of the oven:

Materials:

• 225g peanut butter (no other ingredients other than roasted peanuts)
• 125g maple syrup (I use dark Grade A)
• 1/4 cup almond cashew protein milk (I use Silk brand)
• 1 large farm fresh egg
• 1 tsp vanilla powder (dry, I use Madagascar. Liquid extract works too.)
• 125g oat flour
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp dry chia seeds
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 50g raisins
• 50g dark chocolate chips

Methods:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. In one bowl, mix the dry ingredients: oat flour, ground cinnamon, salt, vanilla extract, raisins, and dark chocolate chips.
3. In a mixing bowl fitted for a stand mixer, combine the wet ingredients and chia seeds: peanut butter, maple syrup, almond cashew milk, egg, and chia seeds. Tip: if you want to soften the chia seeds a bit, incubate the seeds with the maple syrup first.
4. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix. The batter will be sticky!
5. Line a 9″x13″ baking sheet with either parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Use a medium scoop (I use this Oxo one) and a spatula to scoop the dough and drop it onto the baking sheet.
6. Bake at 350°F for 7min and cool.

As always, comments, questions, and feedback are always welcome!