RECIPES: Banana & Pumpkin Energy Balls

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Balls of nuts and dried fruit are a great way to recharge before exercise, grab a snack in between meals, or replace unhealthy sweets while dieting. A couple of these recipes are based on peanut butter, an alternative to which can be any other peanut butter made with your own hands or bought at the supermarket.

You don't even need a blender to make banana balls; you can easily purée one ripe banana with a fork.

Add peanut butter to the mashed banana and mix thoroughly.

If the resulting mixture does not seem sweet enough to you, add honey (or add another sweetener to taste), and then add cocoa and coconut. Add the bran to make the mixture thicker and healthier. You can replace the latter with protein powder.

So far, future sweets do not look too appetizing, but give them time: let them stand for 20 minutes in the freezer so that the mass better holds its shape and does not stick to your hands.

Before preparing the pumpkin energy balls, pour boiling water over the dates to cover them with water and let sit for 5 minutes.

Remove the pit and whisk the dates into a paste with a blender, or swirl the fruits through a meat grinder.

Add the rest of the ingredients: pumpkin puree, cinnamon, and peanut butter.

Pour in the bran last and let the mixture stand in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Before shaping, rub a drop of vegetable oil between your palms, or simply wet your hands with cold water. Spoon the mixture into a ball, then roll in cocoa, sesame, coconut, chia or flax seeds.

Let the balls sit in the freezer for another 20 minutes before storing them in the refrigerator.

Energy balls can be stored for about a week in an airtight container.

Ingredients

For banana balls:

• 200 g peanut butter;
• 1 tablespoon honey;
• 1 medium ripe banana
• 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder;
• ½ cup coconut flakes;
• 2-3 tablespoons of bran.

For pumpkin balls:

• 1 cup puréed dates
• ¼ glasses of pumpkin puree;
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2-3 tablespoons of bran.

Preparation

1. Mix all the ingredients together and place the mixture in the freezer for 20 minutes.
2. Roll the portions of the mixture into balls with moistened hands and roll in cocoa, coconut shavings, flax seeds, chia seeds, of your choice.
3. Leave the finished balls in the freezer for another 20 minutes before storing in the refrigerator.