Healthy Energy Bites

Kitchen Supplies

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
• ½ Cup Honey
• 3 Cups 1-Minute Oats
• Optional: Mini Chocolate Chips and Mini M&M’s

Instructions

1. Using your Aluminum Foil, line your baking dish with the foil using enough to go up the sides of your dish. The foil makes it easy to lift the bites out of the pan after they are set. You can also spray your pan with non-stick cooking spray if you don’t have foil.
2. Add your peanut butter and honey to your microwave-safe mixing bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds and then stir. If it isn’t fully melted then continue this process until the peanut butter and honey have melted completely.
3. You can also melt the peanut butter and honey in a pot on your stovetop. If you choose to do it this way, keep your heat on low and stir often so it doesn’t burn.
4. After your peanut butter and honey are fully melted, add in your oats and mix until they are fully coated.
5. Press your covered oats into your baking dish.
6. If you want to add mini chocolate chips or mini M&M’s now is the time. Sprinkle them on top and then press them down with my fingers so they stick to the oats mixture.
7. I tried to mix the chocolate chips and M&M’s while the oats mixture was still in the mixing bowl but since it was still warm the chocolate chips and M&M’s melted and it became a mess. Fail!
8. Place your energy bites in your refrigerator or freezer to set. Plan for about 2 hours in the refrigerator or about ½ hour in the freezer, at least.
9. Lift the foil to remove the energy bites from your baking dish.
10. Cut the energy bites into 20 bars.  I like to use a large sharp knife; it makes this process a breeze.
11. Store in the refrigerator or freezer.

Helpful Tips

• You can absolutely substitute old-fashioned rolled oats for the 1-minute oats.  Honestly, I think it tastes the same.
• There are plenty of other ingredients you can choose to add to make these energy bites more to your liking: dried fruits, coconut, flax seed, and more. I like to keep it simple though. If you do add more dry ingredients then you may have to decrease the amount of oats you put in.
• This Energy Bites recipe can easily be doubled. Just use a 9x13 baking dish instead. I can’t remember the last time I made a single batch of energy bites, that’s how much my kids love them.
• If you feel like getting a bit fancier, you can roll the oat mixture into balls and then cool them.  This takes more time, and girl, with 4 kids, I just don’t have extra time to spare around here.
• We like to store our energy bites in the freezer. They don’t take long to thaw, literally minutes. On hot summer days, my kids love how cold they are.