Peanut Butter Breakfast Bites

I was surprised when I realized I hadn’t added this recipe to JBC yet! These peanut butter bites are a favorite of ours – if you were present while I took the photos, you’d hear my son asking several times if they were ready to eat yet! They’re perfect for snacks, lunch boxes, and can easily be customized to any taste or to take into account any food allergies (you definitely don’t have to stick with peanut butter!). The recipe is based off of the No-Bake Almond Energy Bites from Vegetarian Times, which is wonderful, but when I didn’t have almond butter or brown rice syrup on hand I realized the recipe can be slightly tweaked and still come out just as delicious!

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups oatmeal
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (raw and roasted have worked well in this recipe!)
• 0.5 cup raisins (can be omitted or subbed out – I usually split my batch in half and do one portion with and one without)
• 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds (either raw or roasted are great!)
• 0.5 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup honey, agave syrup, or brown rice syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

Process 1/2 cup oatmeal and 1/4 cup of pumpkin seeds in a food processor or coffee grinder (I prefer the coffee grinder for the perfect, light texture). Pour out onto a small plate. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Roll small portions of the dough into bite-sized balls, then roll into the ground oatmeal and pumpkin seed mixture. Store in the refrigerator in a sealed container. If you’re putting these in lunch boxes, I like to freeze them the night before to be sure they stay together until they’re ready to eat.