The first time I heard about energy balls, was a few years back when I saw Niomi Smart having them in one of her What I Eat In A Day videos. I thought they looked pretty good so I added them to my mental “to try list”, but largely forgot about them again. Last summer, my grandma gave me a little recipe book all about energy balls, which she thought I’d enjoy. As I was flipping through the pages, my mouth started to water and I couldn’t wait to try some of the recipes out. A few weeks later I headed to Scotland to trek the West Highland Way with my scout group, and as fate would have it, someone brought a huge batch of homemade enegry balls for us to survive on. I finally got to try them! Let me tell you guys, after hours of walking for the fourth day in a row, there’s nothing like a ball of nuts and dried fruit to pick you back up. They were delicious and I was even more resolved to make my own soon. Two weeks ago my parents gifted me a food processor for my birthday, which was the last thing I was missing in order to venture into the wonderful world of energy balls. And now we’re here!
I’ll be honest with you guys, this one was a lucky hit. For my first batch of energy balls, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to go for chocolate or matcha as the main flavour. I just went with both, and lo and behold, it works amazingly well. Not only are these balls delicious sweet treats, they’re all natural and will give you a lovely little mid-day energy boost that won’t let your blood sugar spike or crash. Added bonus: the matcha (green tea powder) makes you crazy focussed, without getting the dreaded coffee shakes.
Ingredients
125g unsalted cashews
250g pitted dates
1 tbsp raw organic local honey
2 tsp pure cacao powder
2 tsp matcha powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
Hemp seeds
Yields around 28 balls, depending on the size you make them.
Add the cashews, dates, honey, cacao and matcha to a food processor and process until everything forms a sticky ball. This will take a few minutes, so don’t give up! Meanwhile, mix some more matcha powder together with some hemp seeds in a shallow bowl. I didn’t use any specific measurements for this, I just use enough matcha to completely coat the hemp seeds. Hemp seeds are a wonderful source of slow-releasing energy, but they’ll also help the matcha stick to the balls better.
When the ingredients have formed a sticky ball, turn off the food processor. Take a little bit of the mixture and roll it into a ball between your hands. Then roll the ball around in the hemp seed mixture until the outside is covered. Place the energy balls in the fridge to cool for at least an hour before diving in.
This is so easy to do, I almost feel silly writing a recipe for it. Then again, with this little effort, it’s definitely worth giving a shot. Homemade energy balls are a lot less expensive than storebought energy bars with similar ingredients, and of course you can fully customise these to your own desire. The balls will keep in the fridge for about a week, so you can make a batch at the beginning of the week and enjoy them all throughout.
I’ll definitely be experimenting with energy balls more, and will report back if I come up with any new amazing flavour combinations.
