Energy bite recipes that aren't too sweet?
January 7, 2019 12:58 PM Subscribe
Does anyone have recipes for energy bites or breakfast cookies (freezable, if I'm being picky) that aren't insanely sweet? Every recipe online calls for like 3 cups of honey and fifty dates...
If you are trying to avoid sugar it is hard when it comes to energy bites because they are by definition intended to deliver a high dose of energy (usually via sugar and carbs like cliff bars).
I have made lara bar copycats which is just dates and cashews and not too sweet, and I've also made ones with peanut butter (you can use natural/unsweetened), which works well as a binder but isn't too sweet.
I would search out "keto balls" for recipes like this and this. FWIW when I made these I could not stomach the lack of sweetness.
posted by lafemma at 1:30 PM on January 7, 2019
I have made lara bar copycats which is just dates and cashews and not too sweet, and I've also made ones with peanut butter (you can use natural/unsweetened), which works well as a binder but isn't too sweet.
I would search out "keto balls" for recipes like this and this. FWIW when I made these I could not stomach the lack of sweetness.
posted by lafemma at 1:30 PM on January 7, 2019
I don’t have the recipe on hand at the moment but I used to make peanut butter bites/energy balls that were basically dried coconut, peanut butter and oats. I’ll try to dig it up, but it was basically just peanut butter and oats (unsweetened all natural peanut butter obviously)
posted by raccoon409 at 1:31 PM on January 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by raccoon409 at 1:31 PM on January 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
You can try using cocoa butter as a fat replacement- it has a chocolatey scent and richness that's delicious without adding sweetness. It's fantastic in cookie instead of butter!
posted by pseudostrabismus at 1:35 PM on January 7, 2019
posted by pseudostrabismus at 1:35 PM on January 7, 2019
Tiger Candy:
--instant oatmeal (you can only use the kind that you can just add hot water too; minute oats are too stiff)
--peanut butter
--raisins if you like raisins, nuts if you like nuts, other dry things you can cram in there
--dry milk powder, optional, but I prefer it for nutrition
--honey, golden syrup, maple syrup, or another syrup of your preference
Mix until they can hold together as balls. Wrap in wax paper twists. You can also mix this up in a jar and just eat it. If it's too dry, add more peanut butter. Too wet, add oats. You need not sweeten these very much since the peanut butter is the main stick-togetherness.
posted by blnkfrnk at 1:38 PM on January 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
--instant oatmeal (you can only use the kind that you can just add hot water too; minute oats are too stiff)
--peanut butter
--raisins if you like raisins, nuts if you like nuts, other dry things you can cram in there
--dry milk powder, optional, but I prefer it for nutrition
--honey, golden syrup, maple syrup, or another syrup of your preference
Mix until they can hold together as balls. Wrap in wax paper twists. You can also mix this up in a jar and just eat it. If it's too dry, add more peanut butter. Too wet, add oats. You need not sweeten these very much since the peanut butter is the main stick-togetherness.
posted by blnkfrnk at 1:38 PM on January 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
The Minimalist Baker's Dark Chocolate Hemp Energy Bites do involve a cup of dates but don't involve other specific sweeteners. They're pretty tasty!
posted by Hellgirl at 2:05 PM on January 7, 2019
posted by Hellgirl at 2:05 PM on January 7, 2019
Super-simple peanut butter cookies: 1 cup peanut butter, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract. Mix until it's dough (you'll know), scoop out ~1 tbsp for each cookie, roll them into balls, and press flat with a fork. Bake at 375F until non-crumbly (12-15 min). If you use a sweetened peanut butter to start with, there's no need to add anything in my opinion. If you use peanut-only butter and/or want them sweeter, use up to half a cup sugar or the equivalent (fwiw I've only ever tried it with Swerve/erythritol but it should be 1:1) to taste.
posted by teremala at 2:22 PM on January 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by teremala at 2:22 PM on January 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I've greatly enjoyed these energy bites from one of my favorite recipe-creators, Jenn Segal. A quick read through the reviews and comments will show that they are endlessly variable. I use dried cranberries instead of dates, roll them in ground pecans or almond flour rather than coconut and omit the wheat germ altogether.
posted by DrGail at 2:35 PM on January 7, 2019
posted by DrGail at 2:35 PM on January 7, 2019
I'm glad you brought this up because it's something I keep meaning to explore. I like an afternoon snack but can't handle a lot of sugar.
I searched "low sugar energy bites" and found these. They call for 2-4 TBSP sweetener.
Like FencingGal says, in normal baking I nearly always cut the sugar from whatever recipe I'm using - often in half or even more dramatically - so it seems reasonable to try the same thing with energy bites. Esp since many recipes are no-bake and it would be easy to make the dough with minimal sweetener, taste, and then adjust if needed.
posted by bunderful at 4:09 PM on January 7, 2019
I searched "low sugar energy bites" and found these. They call for 2-4 TBSP sweetener.
Like FencingGal says, in normal baking I nearly always cut the sugar from whatever recipe I'm using - often in half or even more dramatically - so it seems reasonable to try the same thing with energy bites. Esp since many recipes are no-bake and it would be easy to make the dough with minimal sweetener, taste, and then adjust if needed.
posted by bunderful at 4:09 PM on January 7, 2019
Best answer: I present Giant Breakfast Cookies. Her blog has a LOT of lower-sugar recipes. I can vouch for several.
posted by Ms Vegetable at 5:32 PM on January 7, 2019
posted by Ms Vegetable at 5:32 PM on January 7, 2019
Along the lines of blnkfrnk's tiger candy, I make peanut butter candy as follows:
1 1/4 cups Natural Peanut Butter
1/4 cup Honey, plus 4 teaspoons
3/4 cup Non-Fat Dry Milk Powder
1/2 cup Unflavored Powdered Egg Whites
This is in the style of peanut butter "candy" that my mom used to make. She did not use powdered egg whites - only PB, honey, milk powder.
For your purposes of less sweet, just leave out the honey and mix nonfat dry milk powder (optionally egg white protein powder) into natural peanut butter until it forms a dough, the recipe is not fussy.
posted by RoadScholar at 5:46 PM on January 7, 2019
1 1/4 cups Natural Peanut Butter
1/4 cup Honey, plus 4 teaspoons
3/4 cup Non-Fat Dry Milk Powder
1/2 cup Unflavored Powdered Egg Whites
This is in the style of peanut butter "candy" that my mom used to make. She did not use powdered egg whites - only PB, honey, milk powder.
For your purposes of less sweet, just leave out the honey and mix nonfat dry milk powder (optionally egg white protein powder) into natural peanut butter until it forms a dough, the recipe is not fussy.
posted by RoadScholar at 5:46 PM on January 7, 2019
Best answer: I'm a big fan of Aussie bites, which are little storebought pucks of tastiness full of nuts and dried fruit. There are a lot of copycat recipes around, and this is one of them.
posted by itesser at 7:18 PM on January 7, 2019
posted by itesser at 7:18 PM on January 7, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
I read something in a Mennonite cookbook (The More with Less Cookbook) by a woman who said she always reduces sugar in recipes by one-third and hasn't ruined anything.
posted by FencingGal at 1:09 PM on January 7, 2019 [1 favorite]