I get hungry at the most inconvenient times. Michael and I have a tendency to dive head first into weekends, disregarding our need for food and starving ourselves until I reach the point where I'm ravenously hangry and want to destroy everything around me. Enter: these peanut butter energy bites.

They're gluten-free, and you can easily make them refined sugar- and dairy-free too. They're loaded with good-for-you ingredients like almond flour, oats, and peanut butter, and they come together quickly--no baking required! We store ours in the fridge or the freezer so the chocolate stays nice and hard (they don't freeze, just get really cold) and pull them out one at a time when we're hungry. One ball totally satisfies, and they taste great too.

This is an overhead picture of peanut butter energy bites.

Here's what you need.

This is a picture of the ingredients needed for these peanut butter energy bites.

Almond flour. We use almond flour a lot, so we get big bags at Costco--it's a lot cheaper that way. But you can get almond flour at most grocery stores or make your own.
Coconut flour
Creamy peanut butter. We use sugar-free all natural peanut butter. You can use peanut butter spread (e.g. Jif), but since it's not as liquid-y as all natural peanut butter, you may have to add more liquid (milk) if the dough doesn't come together.
Maple syrup
Oats. We use rolled oats, but quick oats or whatever you have on hand will work too. Make sure you get gluten-free oats if you're aiming to make this recipe gluten-free.
Vanilla extract
Milk. Oat milk, regular milk, and almond milk all work here. Use whatever you have on hand or like to drink. To keep it dairy-free, use oat or almond milk.
Coconut sugar. If you're not concerned about keeping this free of refined sugars, you can replace this with brown sugar or regular granulated sugar.
Chocolate chips. Use no sugar added chocolate chips if you're aiming to keep this free of refined sugars and dairy. We tend to use whatever we already have on hand, so we go back and forth between good-for-you chocolate chips and plain semi-sweet ones.
Coconut oil
Salt

Here's how to make these chocolate peanut butter energy bites.

These are so simple, writing this out feels like overkill.

First add almond flour, coconut flour, oats, salt, and coconut sugar to a large bowl and mix it to combine everything and break up any clumps. Then add peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and milk to the same bowl and mix until everything comes together.

In a separate, microwavable bowl, combine chocolate chips and coconut oil and microwave, at 30 second intervals, until the chocolate is melted (stirring in between trips to the microwave).

Form the dough into bite-sized (ok, a couple of bites) balls and place them on a plate (this recipe makes about 16 balls for us). Then, one at a time, dip the balls into the melted chocolate with a fork and place back onto the plate. Place into the freezer until the chocolate sets up, then transfer to an air-tight storage container.

For best results, store them in the fridge or freezer (the chocolate tends to get melty at room temperature), and munch on them when you need a little pick-me-up (eating them straight out of the freezer is my favorite!).

Enjoy them with...

Our Apple Cider Bourbon Latte!