October 20, 2021October 15, 2021 by Libby

Fudgy Almond Cacao Energy Bites

These gooey, chocolatey energy bites are the perfect snack – you’ll never believe they have no added sugar! Whip up a batch for easy snacking all week long.

Hello friends! Today I am sharing with you one of my favorite recipe creations. I have these on hand (or my fudgy peppermint cacao bites) for snacking every week. I usually make a triple batch every other week and then put half in the fridge and save the rest in the freezer for the next week. I like to eat one of these each morning when I wake up before I exercise. Alec loves to take a couple to work each day!

These bites are tantalizingly fudgy, oozing with chocolately goodness. What more could one want in a snack?

Let’s get to the recipe details, shall we?

These bites feature just seven ingredients – dates, almonds, walnuts, cacao powder, hemp seeds, vanilla extract, and almond extract. They couldn’t be easier to make!

Let’s check out a few of the ingredients.

First, the dates – make sure to use pitted dates. I LOVE these bags that they sell at Costco, as it makes life much easier to have a bag of organic, already pitted dates!

Dates are a good source of fiber and potassium, and provide the natural sweetness for these chocolatey bites.

I also buy these bags of organic hemp seeds at Costco. Hemp seeds are a good source of essential fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids) as well as magnesium.

This is my favorite cacao powder that I find on Amazon. I like the nutritional profile and flavor of this brand better than others that I’ve tried. This one has 25% of your daily value of magnesium and 10% of your daily value of iron per 2.5 tbsp serving!

Fudgy Almond Cacao Energy Bites

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Yields: About 12 1.5 oz bites

Ingredients:
2 heaping cups pitted dates
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup cacao powder
1/2 cup hemp seeds
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

Directions:

Add dates, almonds, and walnuts to a food processor. Process until only fine pieces remain.
Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth.
Transfer mixture into a mixing bowl. Use your hands to roll into about 12 balls. Enjoy!

Notes:

Subbing flax seeds for hemp seeds will yield similar results with slightly different nutritional benefits.
If I am making multiple batches, I find that it speeds things up to first blend the dates, almonds, and walnuts for each batch. Then I transfer each date-nut mixture back to the food processor to add the remaining ingredients for each batch.