I'm so excited to share this quick and easy recipe for Lemon Zinger Energy Bites! This recipe was inspired partly by Ali over at Gimme Some Oven. Ali has a delicious recipe for No-Bake Energy Bites that are made with peanut butter and chocolate chips. I was making these for a postpartum client who absolutely loved them because they are so easy to eat one-handed, while nursing a baby.
I started thinking about what other combinations of flavors would be good and stumbled upon another food blog - Lacey at A Sweet Pea Chef. Lacey's recipe for Lemon Ginger Energy Bites uses whole almonds, dates, and the warms spices I love: ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, and black pepper.
For my Lemon Zinger Energy Bites, the sweetness can come from either honey or maple syrup. I also used almond butter to avoid the hassle of using a food processor to bring all these ingredients together. Adding fresh ginger and lemon zest gives the energy bits that delicious, bright zing!
You'll start by combining all your dry ingredients (oats, flax seed, ground turmeric, ground ginger, cinnamon, and black pepper) in a large bowl:
Next, I used a microplane to add 2tsp of lemon zest. Be careful to only use the yellow part of the lemon peel, as the white part will taste bitter. You can find a microplane at Target or Amazon, but if you don't have one, you can use the finest section on a traditional cheese grater. I also used my microplane to add 1tsp of fresh ginger, but this could be omitted if you don't have any on hand.
Next, add the wet ingredients: almond butter, honey/maple syrup, and lemon juice, then stir. This mixture will be sticky! You can go ahead and roll the balls now or refrigerate for 1-2 hours first.
The final step is to pinch off a small bit of the mixture to roll and form into a ball. You can pick a size that works for you, but I made mine about the size of a golf ball. If you find that the mixture is sticking to your hands and not forming a ball, you can add a little more oats. I also find that rinsing my hands under cold water can help prevent the mixture from sticking too badly.
I hope you enjoy these Lemon Zinger Energy Bites as much as I have! If you try them, let me know what you think!
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons lemon zest
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup creamy almond butter
1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
DIRECTIONS:
Combine all ingredients. Stir together dry ingredients (oats through black pepper), then add wet ingredients. Stir until well combined.
Roll into balls. Roll the mixture into balls about the size of a golf ball. You have the option of chilling the mixture for 1-2 hours before rolling, which cuts down on the stickiness.
Eat or store! You can eat these right away or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. These should stay fresh in the refrigerator for one week or can be frozen for up to 3 months.