Peanut Butter Oatmeal Buckeye Bites

Some recipes sit for a month or even longer before they make it to a published post. But then there are some that ultimately make it straight to publication without much thought at all. These are the recipes that I KNOW my readers and followers will love and that I just cannot wait to share. They are the jackpot recipes. The ones that often seem so brilliant, but after creating them, I wonder why it took so long!

For years I have been making these No Bake Peanut Butter Energy Bites, and they are quite honestly the recipe I wrote down for friends over and over again for so long that they became one of my first recipes to post here on the blog--the photo is all too telling of that! More recently though I stopped putting the chocolate chips in when I make them because I am not a big fan of the crunch they give the bites. But I was missing the chocolate, obviously.

Since I am from Ohio, the buckeye state, and I love peanut butter and chocolate ANYTHING, along came an idea this weekend that stopped me in my tracks with a "Why didn't I think of that before?!!!" response. You know, the kind that has you whip out the bowls and ingredients at 11 pm so you can put it into action--oh wait, I may be on my own on this one, but I digress. It didn't take long to know I had a winner. And thus were created these Peanut Butter Oatmeal Buckeye Bites. You can call them healthy buckeyes if you want, but at any rate, they are a form of a Buckeye, so they are a HUGE win for me.

Oats, peanut butter, honey, flax, maple, vanilla, sea salt. That's it. The chocolate? Two options, melted dark chocolate chips, or my homemade version with coconut oil, cacao, maple, vanilla and sea salt. See? You know and recognize every one of those ingredients don't you? Game changer. Your new favorite way to grab a quick sweet treat is right here friends. If you are still there, (I assume I lost half of you at 'buckeye'), I will let you go, I won't hold you up any longer. Happy snacking!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Buckeye Bites

5 from 3 votes

Print Rate

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Author: Lorie Yarro

Ingredients 

Peanut Butter Oat Bites

• ▢ 1 ⅓ c rolled oats regular or gluten free
• ▢ ½ c creamy natural peanut butter unsalted
• ▢ 2 T honey use all maple if vegan
• ▢ 2-3 T pure maple syrup
• ▢ ½ c flaxmeal
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ Dash of sea salt

Chocolate Coating*

• ▢ ⅓ c coconut oil melted to room temperature**
• ▢ ⅓ c cacao powder
• ▢ 3 teaspoon pure maple syrup
• ▢ ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ dash of sea salt

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients for the peanut butter oat bite part in a medium mixing bowl. Stir to combine well.
• Roll into bite sized balls.
• Freeze balls for about 10-15 minutes.
• Whisk together ingredients for chocolate coating and dip each ball halfway into the chocolate to coat.
• Allow to cool on a parchment lined plate in the refrigerator for 5 minutes to harden chocolate.
• Enjoy and store leftovers (if you have them for long) in the fridge for about one week.

Notes

*You can use ⅓ c dark chocolate chips and melt using a double boiler method or bakers melting chocolate in the microwave.
* *I use cold pressed, unrefined coconut oil. I don't taste coconut, but if it really bothers you, try the refined coconut oil.
***Use almond butter or sunflower seed butter if nut or peanut allergies!

Did you try this recipe? I would love to see it! Mention @LemonsAndZest or tag #LemonsAndZest!