Easy, Healthy Chocolate Almond Date Balls

I'm all about easy recipes. And despite the abundance of cupcake, cookie, and brownie recipes on the blog, I'm also all about healthy recipes. I promise. ;) And recipes that are both easy and healthy? The best!

Today I bring you one of those recipes. Are you familiar with Larabars? I'd almost liken these little chocolate almond date balls to larabars...but in "ball" form. The texture and taste are quite similar in a lot of ways!

What are the healthy ingredients in this recipe? Well, they're simply dates, almonds, cocoa powder, peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon. Couldn't be easier! The original recipe is from the blog, Brittney Breathing. And it actually calls for almond butter instead of peanut butter and honey instead of maple syrup. The peanut butter and maple syrup were my own substitutions. But I want you to know that you're more than welcome to make these with almond butter and honey instead, if you'd like! For someone with peanut allergies, these would be great with the almond butter option. The ingredients below are what I used, and be sure to check the original recipe for Brittney's ingredients.

Ingredients:

-8 to 10 pitted dates

-1/2 cup almonds

-1/8 cup cocoa powder

-1 Tbsp. peanut butter

-1 Tbsp. maple syrup

-1 tsp. vanilla

-cinnamon

Instructions:

Boil the dates in water for 10 minutes to soften them. Drain and set dates aside. In a food processor, process the almonds until they are in small pieces. Add the rest of the ingredients, and pulse until all the ingredients are well-combined. The mixture may be slightly crumbly. Form into 1-inch balls and place in fridge for 1 to 2 hours before enjoying. Makes 8 balls.

I loved these! They did not last long in our household. Mike and I ate them in no time at all. Time to make another batch already. ;)

In fact, next time I will definitely make a double batch. Eight of these from one batch just isn't enough!

As I said earlier, the texture of these is similar to a Larabar. They're not going to be crunchy; instead, they are pretty dense and chewy, as you can probably tell from the photos. 

If you didn't happen to have almonds on hand, I bet you could substitute walnuts pretty easily, or any nut for that matter.

Healthy, homemade snacks like these are my favorite. I get so excited about these kinds of things! They're perfect to have as a mid-day snack at work or a healthy option for that next road trip you might be taking.

Happy healthy snacking!

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Breakfast Bites

These little treats are kind of like a cookie...or a scone...or a muffin. Or, a combination of all three. So what does that make them? A scooffin?? Muffonie? Ha. :)

Regardless of what the best name for these treats is, one thing that is for sure is that they are deeelicious. And the flavors of these "bites" got better the longer they sat too. I thought they tasted better on day 3 than on day 1!

The recipe is from "Liv Life," a blog I stumbled upon through Pinterest. I'm glad I found it! What a terrific recipe this is. I can foresee making this recipe again and again over the years. Whether it's a treat for a road trip, an easy breakfast on a busy weekday, or an after school snack for the kiddos, this recipe is a keeper!

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup mashed banana

-1/2 cup peanut butter

-1/3 to 1/2 cup honey

-1 tsp. vanilla

-1 cup old-fashioned oats

-1/2 cup whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)

-1 tsp. ground cinnamon

-1/4 baking soda

-2/3 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Place the mashed banana, peanut butter, honey, and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk to combine. In a small bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, cinnamon, and baking soda. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until well-combined. Stir in the chocolate chips, if using. Drop dough, two tablespoons at a time, onto prepared cookie sheets. If desired, flatten slightly to about 1/2 of an inch think. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 12 breakfast bites.

Store in airtight container for up to 4 days.

I also wanted to be sure to note that the original recipe for these actually calls for raisins, not chocolate chips. But I just couldn't help myself! I felt like these breakfast bites needed chocolate chips. But I am sure they'd be delicious with raisins too. :)

And can we talk about the health factor of these little guys? They're actually pretty good for you! Banana, peanut butter, oats, whole wheat flour, dark chocolate... And then, the natural sweetener of honey is used, and that has some health benefits as well! 

I actually didn't flatten these before baking. I just left them as is. But, if you wanted to give that a try, feel free! My bites were a bit more freeform.

What often happens when I'm blogging about a recipe is that I start to crave what I'm writing about... And that is definitely happening right now. I totally want to head to the kitchen and make these again!

I actually made these breakfast bites a couple weekends ago when my sister, Melissa, and our friend, Meg, and I ran a half marathon together! We ran the Middlebury Maple Run in Middlebury, VT. I made these treats as a snack for our road trip. They were the perfect healthy option for the car ride!

Here we are after the race. We all survived! And we definitely snacked on a couple of my pb banana oatmeal chocolate chip breakfast bites after the race too. We totally deserved them after running 13.1 miles. ;)

I realized that I have a few other recipes on the blog that are similar to these breakfast bites, so I thought I'd share them again with you if you love these flavors like I do!

Whole Wheat Banana Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Muffins

3-Ingredient Healthy Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Squares

Butterscotch White Chocolate Peanut Butter

It's times like these when I wish we had the capability to send smells through the Internet. The aroma of this butterscotch white chocolate peanut butter is absolutely one of my new favorite things. It's addictive. Like, I want to open the peanut butter container and just sit there and smell it for a looong, looong time.

Sorry. I'm strange. :)

But really, if you make this peanut butter you'll understand what I'm talking about! The roasted peanuts, butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, and vanilla extract come together in an awesome way. And of course, not only does this peanut butter smell amazing, but it tastes amazing too!

I recently made this peanut butter as a birthday gift for my sister (happy birthday again, sista!). She is the biggest fan of white chocolate that I know...and she's also quite the butterscotch fan...so I knew she'd love this peanut butter!

This wonderful recipe comes from the lovely Averie of Averie Cooks. Remember a couple weeks ago when I posted about homemade peanut butter? Well, that was Averie's great recipe, just like this one is hers. Since initially making that peanut butter, I've continued to make homemade peanut butter on a regular basis, and I'm hooked! But I also have quickly become intrigued by the flavored varieties of homemade pb, and so I ventured into the butterscotch white chocolate world with this recipe...

As with the plain peanut butter, this recipe could not be easier. The food processor does all the work! Averie's recipe calls for using honey roasted peanuts but I actually used plain roasted peanuts, simply because that's what I bought at the store. I bet honey roasted would be amazing though! The ingredients below are what I used, and Averie's original recipe can be found here. I modified it slightly; I used a smaller amount of both types of baking chips and also slightly less of the vanilla extract too (2 tsp. vs. 1 Tbsp.).

Ingredients:

-16 oz. roasted peanuts (unsalted)

-2 tsp. vanilla extract

-3/4 cup butterscotch baking chips

-3/4 cup white chocolate baking chips

-pinch of salt, optional

Instructions:

Add peanuts to food processor, and process on high until smooth and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add the vanilla, butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips, and salt, if using. Continue to process, about 2 to 3 minutes or until everything is well-incorporated and desired consistency is reached.

Transfer peanut butter to a glass jar or an airtight container. Store at room temperature for up to 2 weeks or store in refrigerator for a few months.

If you store the peanut butter in the fridge, it will harden slightly. Before using it, I'd recommend taking it out of the fridge to sit at room temperature for 10 or 15 minutes. Then it will spread quite nicely.

As you may notice if you look at Averie's original recipe, it calls for 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of both types of chips. I started with just 3/4 cup of each and then tasted it... And I liked what I tasted, so I stopped there! But you could definitely add more baking chips if that suits your tastes.

Honestly, it's like magic to make peanut butter at home. I said that in my post about regular peanut butter too, and it's so true! I love watching it come together. You can sit back and relax while the food processor does all the work with this one.

As you can see, immediately after the peanut butter was done, it was a really nice, smooth consistency. And as I mentioned above, this will go away somewhat if you store it in the fridge. If you keep it at room temp, this consistency will stay better. But, your peanut butter won't last as long at room temp... But honestly, in whose house is this peanut butter going to last a long time anyway?! It will disappear so quickly, I promise you!

I didn't take too many pictures of this peanut butter. I gave 95% of it to my sister in a recycled/reused peanut butter jar, and I have to admit, I kept about 5% of it for Mike and me! I couldn't resist! Sista, I'm sorry that I only gave you 95% of your birthday gift. I couldn't help it. I know you understand. ;)

Just a word of caution... Be careful about going near this peanut butter with a spoon. One thing might lead to another and, well...before you know it, your spoon might be scraping the bottom of the jar. ;)

Spice Cake Snickerdoodles

Apparently this week I'm all about snickerdoodles! Earlier in the week I posted a recipe for snickerdoodle bread (which is sooo good), and now I'm bringing you a twist on snickerdoodle cookies in the form of spice cake snickerdoodles! What makes them spice cake snickerdoodles? Well, I'm glad you asked!

The base of this recipe is a boxed cake mix. A spice cake mix. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know my thoughts on cake mix cookies... Although I prefer to bake from scratch, every now and then a gal needs her shortcuts. And that's where cake mix comes in! I've made many different cake mix cookie recipes over the years, and now I bring you another one. It couldn't be easier! Thanks to the cake mix, the recipe requires very few ingredients, and you don't need an electric mixer either. Everything's done by hand in one bowl!

Ingredients:

-1 box spice cake mix (e.g., Betty Crocker)

-2 eggs

-1/3 cup vegetable oil

-3 Tbsp. sugar

-1 tsp. cinnamon

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, eggs, and vegetable oil until well-incorporated. In a separate, small bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon. Form the cookie dough into 1-inch balls, and roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture until it's well coated. Place on prepared cookie sheets, and bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until the cookie springs back if you touch it with a finger (and the tops of the cookies are "cracked"). Let sit on cookie sheet for a couple minutes before cooling completely on cooling rack. Store in airtight container. Makes 18 to 22 cookies.

You are going to love the ease of this recipe! And of course, you're also going to love the taste of these cookies. The cinnamon sugar coating around the cookies is what put these over the top for me. Love that!

Spice cake is one of my favorite types of cakes. But in cookie form? It's even better. If presented with a cookie and a slice of cake and told that I could only have one, I think I'd actually select the cookie over the cake about 9 out of 10 times. ;)

Check it out - our cat, Whiskey, photobombed one of my pictures! Too funny. He just popped right up there as I was taking a picture. Guess he wanted in on these spice cake snickerdoodles too. :)

And while we're on a snickerdoodle kick, here are a few other snickerdoodle recipes from my blog!

Maple Snickerdoodles (from scratch, not cake mix)

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles (cake mix)

Maple Snickerdoodle Whoopie Pies with Maple Cinnamon Buttercream Filling (from scratch)

Snickerdoodle Bread

Quickbreads are one of my favorite baked goodies to make. They come together in no time (hellooo, they're not called quickbreads for nothin' ;)) and if you do it right, they can be very moist and flavorful. They're a fabulous option for breakfast or a snack...and sometimes, as with this recipe, they're also a great option for dessert. I give you permission to eat this bread whenever you want: morning, noon, or night. I won't judge. :)

This recipe comes from Barbara Bakes. I halved her recipe though, and the ingredients I used (to make one 9 x 5 loaf) are below. Feel free to double it though! That should yield you two 9 x 5 loaves or several mini loaves (you could also make this into muffins if you'd like!). I also changed the recipe slightly and I'll tell you what those changes are afterward.

Ingredients:

-1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

-1 tsp. baking powder

-1/4 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. cinnamon (I used King Arthur Flour's Vietnamese cinnamon)

-1/2 cup butter, softened

-1 cup sugar

-2 eggs

-1 tsp. vanilla

-1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt

-3/4 to 1 cup cinnamon baking chips

-1 Tbsp. flour

-1 Tbsp. maple sugar OR cinnamon sugar mixture (1 Tbsp. sugar & 1 tsp. cinnamon) for sprinkling

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 5 loaf pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one. Mix in the vanilla and yogurt. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined; do not overmix. Coat the cinnamon chips in the tablespoon of flour, and stir into the batter. Spoon batter into greased pan. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture evenly across top of the batter (or the maple sugar, depending on which you're using). Bake for 45 to 60 minutes (baking times will vary per oven) or until a toothpick or knife inserted into the center comes out clean. When done, let cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to let cool completely on cooling rack.

I am in love with cinnamon chips. No joke, I have about six bags of them on hand right now. So, when I saw this recipe, I knew I could make it right away. There's no shortage of cinnamon chips in my kitchen! In fact, I probably could have made 10 loaves of this bread with the cinnamon chips I have...

Notice the nice distribution of cinnamon chips throughout each slice of bread? Thanks to coating the cinnamon chips in flour before adding them to the batter, this nice even distribution is possible; they don't all sink to the bottom of the loaf. Woohoo!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention it, but I used plain yogurt in this recipe, although the original recipe calls for sour cream. Either option will work just fine!

And I have to explain the whole maple sugar vs. cinnamon sugar on top of the loaf too... The original recipe calls for sprinkling a generous amount of cinnamon sugar on the loaf before baking. When I went to my cupboard to get cinnamon sugar (I have a jar of already made cinnamon sugar ready at all times - you never know when you might need it!), I saw my maple sugar in the cupboard. And I thought, hey, that could be good sprinkled on this bread! So I opted to use that instead of the cinnamon sugar. However, I did not add a full tablespoon of it to the top of the loaf. I used less... So, because of that, you don't see that nice layer of cinnamon sugar crunch that you see on Barbara's loaves. If that's what you're looking for, I would suggest that you use the full tablespoon of either option, the maple sugar or the cinnamon sugar.

I brought this loaf home to New York this past weekend to share with my parents and some other family members who were visiting. We enjoyed it as part of our Saturday morning brunch. It added just the right touch of sweetness to our plates! I also enjoyed a slice later on with some peanut butter spread on it. Boy, was that good too!!

This post is linked up to Taste and Tell Thursdays! :)

Easy Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip

I'm all about easy recipes this week. First, I give you homemade peanut butter. It's a recipe that can be made with only one ingredient. ONE. And now, I bring you another peanut butter recipe: peanut butter yogurt dip. I have to warn you though that there are more ingredients in this recipe than in the homemade peanut butter. Wait for it...

There are four ingredients in this one.

I know. So many!! ;)

There are a number of recipes around the web for peanut butter yogurt dip. After looking at a few, I settled on adapting a recipe from Nutritious Eats. This recipe actually only calls for three ingredients, but I added a fourth. So, this could be a three ingredient recipe if you want! I'll list the ingredients I used below and then will chat about ways you could change it up...

Ingredients:

-6 to 8 oz. plain or vanilla yogurt

-1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

-1/2 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed (e.g., Cool Whip)

-1 to 2 Tbsp. powdered sugar (optional)

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the yogurt and peanut butter until smooth. Fold in the whipped topping. If this mixture does not meet your sweetness preferences, add powdered sugar until the dip is as sweet as you'd like it to be.

Serve with fruit (e.g., apples, strawberries, bananas), graham crackers, cookies, etc. Store dip in airtight container in fridge.

Could it get any easier?! Not really!

As I mentioned above, only add the powdered sugar if the dip isn't sweet enough for you. I used plain yogurt (this kind from Stonyfield), so I thought the powdered sugar would add just the right touch of sweetness, and it did. If you use vanilla yogurt, which tends to be a little sweeter, you may not need the powdered sugar.

I think it would be great to try this with Greek yogurt for an added protein punch! Greek yogurt would make the dip thicker too. The recipe in general is really so flexible. Add more peanut butter if you want it more peanut buttery. And more cool whip if you want it lighter and fluffier. Play around with it to see what you like best!

Although I don't have kids, this certainly seems like a great snack for kiddos, doesn't it?

And it's a great low-guilt dessert option too. I've definitely enjoyed some dip with a few strawberries and graham crackers the past couple nights for my dessert. :) 

The dip is very smooth and creamy, and it has a mild hint of peanut butter. The peanut butter taste is definitely there, but it's not overwhelming. You can easily increase the amount of peanut butter you add though to make that flavor really come through!

On a non-peanut butter note, I wanted to say that I will be scaling down on my blog posts going forward. I've never been a super frequent blogger (usually I post about three times a week). With a full time job and a busy schedule in general, blogging is a hobby for me that I enjoy on the side. I'm not doing it to make any money, and I don't have thousands of pageviews a day or a ton of comments from readers on each post. I really do enjoy blogging; it's a fun way to keep track of recipes and connect with other food lovers, but I just don't have the time I wish I had to be more devoted to my blog (nor do I have plans to make that time, at least not right now). So, I am likely going to be scaling down to just one or two posts a week. If you're a regular reader, thank you for stopping by as often as you do. It honestly means so much to me. Connecting with readers and knowing there are people out there who read my posts (and sometimes even make my recipes!) are my favorite aspects of blogging. There would likely be no "What's Baking in the Barbershop?!" if it weren't for you!

So, thank you. I really appreciate you. :)

Homemade Peanut Butter

Homemade peanut butter. It's so simple, yet I hadn't made it until now. What's wrong with me?!

This must honestly be one of the easiest recipes I've ever made.

It can be as simple as one ingredient. Peanuts. Yes, you heard me right! Salt and canola oil are optional, so there is potential for a whopping three ingredients total. ;)

The original recipe is from Texanerin Baking.

Ingredients:

-1 cup roasted peanuts (unsalted, salted, or honey)

-salt to taste (optional)

-canola or peanut oil (optional)

Instructions:

Put peanuts in food processor. Process until creamy.

Ummm, that's it. No joke!

Now, a few more specific points for you...

It only took about 1 to 2 minutes for the peanut butter to reach desired consistency for me. Erin from Texanerin Baking says it takes about 4 minutes for her. So, just keep an eye on yours and check it every now and then to see how it's doing. When I tasted mine after no more than two minutes, it was great! Mike thought so too. So, I didn't process it any further. I think that in the future I will probably experiment a bit more and try to process it longer to see how that might differ.

If you think you'd like to try adding canola or peanut oil, add it one teaspoon at a time until the peanut butter reaches the consistency you'd like. And feel free to add salt to taste too.

And finally, 1 cup of peanuts makes about 2/3 cup of peanut butter. You can store it in an airtight container for up to two months in the fridge.

I used unsalted, roasted peanuts, and Mike and I both liked the taste of the peanut butter as is. However, I can see where adding a little salt would be yummy too!

When you first start processing the peanuts, they will become ground peanuts. As your food processor continues, the ground peanuts will form a ball. Next, they'll turn into a creamy, smoother product we like to call peanut butter! It seriously is like magic when it happens. :) I couldn't believe how quickly I went from peanuts to peanut butter!

Things like this make me so happy.

I'm such a simpleton. Peanuts turning into peanut butter...and I'm a happy gal. 

You need to try it if you haven't yet! I can't wait to experiment with more possible flavor combinations... Honey roasted peanuts, maybe an addition of cinnamon, perhaps some chocolate?! The possibilities seem endless! This homemade pb thing could be dangerous. :)