Chocolate No-Bake Energy Bites

Chocolate.  Doesn't the word just give you warm and fuzzy feelings? It's almost my BFF.
But unfortunately, a lot of the chocolatey goodness sold today is pretty much h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e for us.


*tears*

However, when I came across the recipe I'm about to share, I was giddy with excitement. You mean I don't have to feel guilty about eating something chocolate? Oh my. Sign me up.
I found the original recipe via The Cheapskate Cook.
Ladies, these are splendidly simple and you can mix things around. It's totally forgiving. (My kind of recipe)

photo from The Cheapskate Cook

The list of ingredients:

• 1 cup rolled oats*
• 1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (sweetened works fine)
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds (or ground nuts or flaxseed) **
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (or raisins, mini chocolate chips, M&M’s or ground nuts)
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder (optional)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Here's the entire recipe.

*(From the Cheapskate Cook herself) "My only disappointment with these is that they use uncooked oats, which according to my research aren’t the easiest for your body to digest. I’m sure these can be replaced with something healthier, but up until now I’ve just been thankful for a frugal treat that doesn’t have an ingredients list a mile long."

**Instead of the sesame seeds, I ground up raw walnuts, raw almonds and raw organic pumpkin seeds. I also sprinkled in a tiny bit of ground flax. (Not a huge fan of the taste of flax, but that stuff packs a nutritional punch, so I put in just enough to get something out of it, but not enough to really taste it ;)

I like that this recipe uses honey as the sweetener. It's still a sugar, but it's nature's sweetener. Good ol' raw honey.

Just FYI: Your kids will totally think you are the coolest mom ever if you give them a few of these beauties for breakfast.  I honestly don't feel bad doing that every now and then, because not only is this recipe a "not as bad as..." one, but depending on which ingredients you choose to add, and their quality, these Chocolate No-Bake Energy Bites can actually be very nutritious! 

Now, I'm off to the fridge to get my Chocolate fix. And I'm not feelin' an ounce of guilt about it ;)