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I love having healthy snack options at easy access for my kids so that I’m not tempted to stock the pantry with junk food. The best option is a snack food that is delicious and also nutritious! Energy bites are an easy way to create bite-sized snacks to have on hand.
There are a ton of recipes and I’ve tried lots of them (like my oatmeal raisin energy bites), recently though I had a bunch of canned pumpkin in the pantry and decided to experiment with something new. These are a little wetter than other energy bite recipes, but they are delicious and very filling. Even better, if you want to make these pumpkin energy bites to fit certain dietary restrictions, you could leave out the chocolate chips, or swap the honey for maple syrup.
Pumpkin Energy Bites (Freezer Recipe)
There’s not really much to the process of making these. Just dump the ingredients all in a bowl and mix!
You’ll need oatmeal, honey, shredded coconut, flaxseed, vanilla, and 1 can of pumpkin puree. I also like to add mini chocolate chips.
If, after mixing all the ingredients together, it still seems a little wet, you can add a handful of oats at a time until it is firm enough to form into balls.
I was going to freeze my pumpkin energy bites, so I used a tablespoon to get out similar amounts for each energy bite and then used my hands to form them into balls. I put wax paper on a cookie sheet and then stick them in the freezer in order to get them a little harder so that when I put them in a freezer bag, they don’t stick together. If you’re planning to eat them soon, then you can just put the energy bites straight into an airtight container (I don’t recommend a ziptop bag as these are a little sticky and may not retain the ball form if you do that).
I love using the top of my chest freezer to flash freeze! Once these were no longer sticky, I put them into freezer bags. When I’m ready for us to eat some, I just let them thaw for a few hours in the microwave.
Ingredients
- 3.5 cups oatmeal
- 1 cup honey
- 3/4 cup shredded coconut
- 1 cup flaxseed
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
Directions
- Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and use wooden spoon to stir.
- Use a tablespoon measure to scoop out a ball for each energy bite.
- If storing for eating soon, place balls in an airtight container in the fridge.
- If freezing, place bites on waxpaper on a cookie sheet and freeze for an hour until hardened. Then place in a freezer safe airtight container or ziptop bag.
