Key Lime Pie & Chocolate Peanut Butter Energy Balls

It’s finally starting to get cold down here in Texas! I’m currently in the southernmost part of Texas, the Rio Grande Valley, which is right along the Mexico border. It’s normally all sunshine and warm breezes, even in the middle of winter, but today was super cold and tomorrow will be even colder! I’ve been eating a lot of soup and drinking lots of fresh pressed juice to keep away my allergies that are trying to overcome me. When I feel any kind of cold or sore throat or allergy coming on, I literally just drink warm lemon water all day long and it prevents me from getting sick. It’s pretty amazing.

These delicious energy balls are also pretty amazing. The key lime pie balls are light and sweet with a touch of tang, and the chocolate peanut butter balls are dense and rich with flavor. They both contain some of my favorite foods, like almonds, cashews, chia seeds, coconut and peanut butter. Instead of using sugar or a processed sweetener, these energy balls are naturally using dates. Yum!

Making energy balls is really fun and easy, and you can make them in big batches to munch on throughout the week. Whether you make the key lime pie or the chocolate peanut butter or both, you’ll fall in love with these vegan, gluten free energy balls!

Let’s start with key lime pie because it makes me think of warm weather and I could use that right now!

Here are the ingredients you will need:

• 1/2 cup raw almonds
• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 1.5 cups Medjool dates, pitted
• zest and juice from 3 key limes
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Pretty easy so far, right?

1. Pulse the almonds and cashews in a food processor or blender until finely chopped.
2. Add the dates, lime juice and zest. Pulse until the mixture clumps together.
3. Use your hands to form into small balls. Roll each ball in coconut flakes.
4. Store in airtight container in the fridge.

I didn’t have a food processor at the time so I used a blender and it was more difficult to chop everything up, but it’s doable if you’re patient.

These babies aren’t as pretty, they look like dirt balls, but they are tasty I promise!

Here are the ingredients you will need for the chocolate peanut butter energy balls:

• 1 cup Medjool dates, pitted
• 3 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 2/3 cup rolled oats
• cocoa powder

I love that both recipes have 5 easy ingredients!

1. Pulse the dates in a food processor or blender until finely chopped.
2. Add the peanut butter, chia seeds and rolled oats and pulse until combined and mixture clumps together.
3. Use hands to form into small balls. Roll in cocoa powder.
4. Store in airtight container in fridge.

I think kids will like this flavor because they taste kind of like chocolate peanut butter cups!

*Both recipes will last about a week in the fridge, but you can also freeze them.

These are just two flavors of energy balls you can make, but there’s tons more recipes out there. These are great to get started with if you’ve never made them before. Thanks to Spoonful of Flavor and Minimalist Baker for the recipe inspiration!

Jillian 💙