Adventures in Making Energy Bites (or, How I Should Maybe Follow a Recipe)

As I may have mentioned in the past, I have an aversion to following recipes. It's not a bad thing to cook by instinct and intuition, however, I need to cultivate the habit of following a recipe closely the first time I make something new. Case in point, the energy bites I made yesterday. I've been reading a bunch of recipes for energy bites and bars because I'm terrible about eating breakfast. I thought if I made up something I can nibble on, it would alleviate the "hangry" feeling that creeps over me a couple hours after I get up. Plus, I am very, very slow to fully wake up. One of my friends calls it "hatching" which I like because that's exactly how it feels. I always have to reassure people that if I don't talk or interact with them within the first hour or so of waking up, that I don't hate them! My mind is fully functional, there's just a disconnect between my mind and my mouth. 

So, after reading various recipes for energy bites and sampling some of my sister-in-law's she made a couple weeks ago, I went grocery shopping. Bulk food shopping, to be exact. I picked up some old fashioned oats, coconut flakes, roasted almond pieces, and fresh ground peanut butter. I had honey, coconut oil, flax seeds, and a dark chocolate bar at home, so I was set. 

Ingredients:

3 cups oats

1 cup roasted almond pieces

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup coconut flakes

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup flax seeds, slightly ground

1 bar dark chocolate, chopped

1 TBSP vanilla extract

Pinch of fresh grated nutmeg

Pinch of salt

**These are the amounts of the ingredients I used, to the best of my recollection. DO NOT follow these proportions! The resulting bites are delicious but so very crumbly! I need to refine the recipe. Or, you know, follow someone else's recipe to the letter.

Cook's Notes:

1. This made a huge batch, which is what I wanted. I mean, there's over 5 cups of dry ingredients. I wanted to make enough to last me for a couple weeks. And it will.
2. In retrospect, I should have melted the peanut butter with the coconut oil and the honey as I think the mixture would've come together easier. I also think I should've increased the total amount of peanut butter and coconut oil as the mix was very crumbly.
3. About half the recipes I researched used dates as a binder and then called for using a food processor to combine the ingredients. As my food processor is currently in storage, I decided to use peanut butter, coconut oil, and honey as the binders instead.
4. Flax seeds, unless they're ground, won't be digested which means you're not getting any of their nutrients. I used my mortar and pestle to smash them up before adding them to the bowl. I thought about buying ground flax seeds but I had whole ones on hand and want to use them up.
5. I personally love the taste and texture of coconut flakes and grated coconut. It adds just a touch of sweetness without being overpowering.
6. Someone had given me a bar of Hershey's Special Dark awhile back. I used my mortar and pestle to smash it up into small pieces. I could've used a really sharp knife instead to chop up the chocolate, but I didn't. 
7. A little vanilla extract enhanced the mix as did the fresh nutmeg. I'm not a huge fan of cinnamon unless we're talking cinnamon rolls which is a whole other delicious story! The nutmeg and the salt added just the right notes to round out the mix.
8. Since the resulting mixture was crumbly, I decided to squoosh it together as best I could and place the bites in cupcake liners instead. I ended up with nearly two dozen, two-bite energy balls. I place them on a cookie sheet and let them set up in the fridge for an hour, then transferred them to a plastic container (with a lid) with parchment paper between the layers and stored them in the fridge. 
9. The thing I like best about my creation are the roasted almonds because I love almonds. Love them so much! And since they're roasted, the almonds add great flavor and crunch. I decided not to add dried fruit for my first batch; I'm not a huge fan of them. Perhaps I'll make a tropical batch with more coconut, dried pineapple, and macadamia nuts.