People often associate protein or energy balls with fitness snacks. Energy balls are actually a wonderfully healthy and delicious sweet treat to have on the go, making them a perfect picnic dessert or snack, especially if you are looking for vegan picnic dessert ideas.
Pack them in your picnic hamper as a snack or as a post picnic sweet treat instead of a complicated dessert. They are perfect with tea or coffee.
Much like our Cocoa Peanut Butter Fat Bombs, Chocolate Granola Bars, and Chocolate Avocado Truffles, these delicious tahini chocolate chip bites are a no-bake sweet, so are quick and easy to make. They can also be easily adapted to be vegan and gluten-free. You can also switch out ingredients to suit your taste.
Tahini
Tahini is a wonderfully versatile ingredient – one often associated with Middle Eastern foods such as hummus and baba ganoush – two of our favourite picnic dips.
Many don’t realise Tahini is an excellent ingredient for sweet dishes – made with ground sesame seeds; it has all the flavour of nut butter without the worry of nut allergens. It also has a deep nutty flavour that works so well with natural sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup or agave.
Recipe Variations
The beauty of energy balls is they are so easy to adapt to different variations without too much hassle.
- Don’t like Tahini: Switch tahini for your favourite nut butter.
- Add dried fruits: Don’t like chocolate or want some extra kick? Add dried raisins, chopped dates or prunes for an extra sweet addition.
- Bulk up the Protein & Flavour: Add a few scoops of vanilla or chocolate protein powder for extra flavour and protein. Just keep an eye on the moisture levels of your mix and add more tahini or sweetener to make sure you get the right mix for forming balls. You don’t want too dry or too wet.
- Choose your sweetness: Honey is the best binding sweetener for protein balls but you can also use agave or maple syrup which is perfect for a vegan version.
- Add seeds: If you want some extra texture or nutritional value, feel free to add a sprinkle of seeds such as flax or chia seeds. You could also roll the balls in seeds before letting them set.
- Gluten-Free Options: While essentially quality oats are gluten-free, some people like to avoid them in case of gluten through processing. If you have any concerns, switch oats for quinoa flakes.
Chocolate Chip & Tahini Energy Balls
Tahini protein balls are a wonderfully healthy and delicious sweet treat to have on the go which makes them perfect as a hiking snack but also as a picnic dessert or snack.
These delicious tahini chocolate chip bites are so quick and easy to make. You can switch out ingredients to suit your taste and they can be easily adapted to be vegan and gluten-free without compromising on taste.
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut flour
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup tahini
- 1/3 cup maple syrup, agave or honey
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
- Pinch sea salt
Instructions
Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper.
- Add oats and coconut flour to a food processor and pulse until well combined.
- Add tahini, liquid sweetener of choice and blend - The texture should be crumbly but will easily mould into a ball - not too dry or sticky.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Place the mixture in the fridge or freezer to chill for 5 minutes. This will make rolling the balls easier.
- Remove from the freezer and form small balls with the dough and place them onto the baking sheet.
- Sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt.
- Place the baking sheet in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to allow the balls to set before transferring to an airtight container.
- The chocolate chip energy balls will keep in the fridge for up to a week.
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