chocolate and almond energy balls

Another delicious recipe from resident food expert, Lucy Pemberton-Platt.

Making energy balls is possibly the simplest way to make tasty, portable food for your rides - your snack game will never be the same again.  

When I first came across energy balls, I couldn’t believe how easy they were to make.  There is no baking involved, just blending and I’ve been making them for years without getting bored. Once you have your ratio of nuts to dates (the main dry and sticky ingredients) you can customise them any way you want.  You can swap and change the nuts you use and add spices like cinnamon or ginger.  

In terms of nutrition, these energy balls contain protein, healthy fats and fibre.  If you wanted to add slow release carbohydrates too, you can easily swap a cup of nuts for a cup of blended oats.  The dates used in this recipe are a great source of vitamins and minerals, but most importantly for you, they will give you energy and natural sugars while out on a long ride.

When I lived in London with my sister, I would bake these for her and she would wrap them in tin foil and put them in the back pocket of her cycling jersey.  They go perfectly with a cup of coffee too!  

Ingredients

— 11 cup of pecans — 1 cup of ground almonds
— 1/2 cup desiccated coconut 
— 3 tbsp cacao powder 
— 3 tbsp almond butter
— 1 tbsp maple syrup
— 1 cup (approx 7) medjool dates
— 1/4 tsp salt

Method

Place the almonds, pecans and salt into a blender/food processor and blend until a chunky flour is formed.  Then add the desiccated coconut and cacao powder and blitz for another few minutes until everything is combined.  Add your liquid based ingredients; almond butter, maple syrup and blend until everything is combined and a sticky mixture is formed. Lastly, pit your dates one at a time.  

tip - if your mixture is too dry add more of the wet ingredients; dates, almond butter.  If your mixture is too wet then add more of the dry ingredients; pecan/almond flour.

Roll the mixture into balls and place them into the fridge for thirty minutes to set and firm up.  These will last you up to three months but it’s almost guaranteed they’ll be eaten before then.