Fun monster cookie flavors, made into healthy, power packed energy bites packages! Naturally dyed & peanut free option too!
Peanut free classrooms and a *fun* new snack!
My youngest is in a peanut free classroom for the first time in a couple years, so I’ve been in peanut free snack making mode over the last month! My youngest is super active, with a year round competitive gymnastics schedule, so snack skipping, or trying to making it to lunch time is absolutely not an option for her. She eats…all. the. time! Thankfully peanut free snacks have come a long way, and there are lots of ways to make snacks and lunchboxes peanut free!
A happy accident, fun new find!
I was in the grocery store baking isle one day looking for something and happened to notice these cutie little naturally dyed mini candy coated chocolates on the shelf. They immediately reminded me of monster cookies! I am a mid-west girlie, after all! I grabbed a couple bags, thinking they would be nice to stash away for cookie making some day.
Energy bites with a monster cookie spin!
That same week I was in desperate need for an easy snack to stash into the pantry for my kiddo in the peanut free classroom, and she had been asking for energy bites so that snack time could be easy and fast to eat. She also had noticed the fun little candies I found, and wondered if we could put a few in her bites! What a great idea!
Energy bites without peanut butter?!
You can absolutely use peanut butter if you can have that. I made a batch using peanut butter for my older girls to take to school since they can have it. But, did you know that the Kirkland brand Mixed Nut Butter, and the Almond Butter at Costco are made in peanut free facilities? Score! I just love the ingredient list on that Mixed Nut Butter too. More than just almonds, it has fiber rich, flax and chia added to it as well as mineral rich pumpkin seeds. I actually had to tell my 2 older kids to stick with the peanut butter ones because all 3 of them really liked the mix nut butter bites the best! I needed to keep the peanut free bites for my youngest in the peanut free classroom! (If your classroom is completely tree nut free, you can use sunbutter in this recipe!)
The Method :: The Monster Cookie Energy Bites Dough
This is one of those no-bake snacks that everyone can make! In fact, if I could make a suggestion?! Make these with the kids so they see how to do it. That way, they can be the snack maker when it comes time to make them again. In fact, my oldest and youngest made the batch that I needed for photographing for this post together! All of the ingredients go into one bowl – that’s it!
The Method :: Rolling up the Monster Cookie Energy Bites
Once you mix the energy bite dough, roll up the bites into the size that you prefer. I like to use a small cookie scoop so that the bites are around the same size. If I had smaller kids, I’d probably make them smaller than pictured in this post, maybe around half inch diameter versus 1 or 2 inch.
So cute…but what about the sugar?
We’re talking about a 12 year old having 1 or 2 energy bites 1-3 times per week. The equivalent to maybe a tablespoon of the candy total. She is extremely active, and while we pick clean, real food carb energy sources for her 99% of the time, an occasional snack like this is totally fine in my book. If you have small children or toddlers at home, I’d suggest holding out on adding the candy right now. I know that would have been my approach when the girls were that age. You could swap the candy for cacao nibs or chopped dried fruit, or just leave it out!
Do I have to use the protein powder?
If you don’t have access to quality protein powder, you’ll want to use something to soak up the moisture. That could be more oats, or perhaps ground flaxseed. Collagen could swap here too. I really like this vanilla bone broth protein powder, if you are on the lookout for something.
How to store the Monster Cookie Energy Bites
These are pantry storage safe! If the kids like them cold, you can refrigerate them as well. Storing them in the freezer could also work well, especially when packing into lunchboxes for later. They will thaw by lunchtime!
One last fun idea!
While the timing for this post was more back to school, I was thinking about this could be a fun snack on a table spread at a Halloween party with the “monster” theme! Just a thought!
Naturally Dyed Monster Cookie Energy Bites!
Ingredients
- 1 cup natural nut or seed butter of choice See Notes
- 3/4 cup rolled oats I used sprouted oats for best digestion
- 1/3 cup vanilla protein powder of choice See Notes
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 2 1/2 tbsp raw honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup naturally dyed mini candy coated chocolates
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a medium mixing bowl and stir to combine into a cookie dough-like consistancy.
- Use a small cookie scoop to evenly divide the mixture, rolling the dough into little balls. You can make them as small as you'd like too if you have smaller kids at home!
- Store the monster cookie energy bites in an airtight container in the pantry or refrigerator for up to 2 months.
Notes
- If you cannot have peanut butter, or are at a peanut free school, use a sunbutter. OR, as of this date, the Kirkland brand Mixed Nut Butter and Almond Butter at Costco are made in peanut free facilities if the school restriction is peanut free only.Â
- I like using this Vanilla Bone Broth Protein Powder.
Can’t wait to try these. Just ordered the candy coated chocolates! What could I use instead of the oats, as my son is allergic? Coconut flakes, flax seeds or ground flax? Or would it need to be a mixture of these? You mentioned something that needs to soak the moisture. Thanks!
Hi Laura! Great! Yes, you can swap the oats for something like shredded coconut – I wouldn’t use the big coconut flakes but the tiny shreds would be good. Or even like hemp hearts or almond flour would work well. A combo of all of those might help with texture! Please keep us posted on what you try and what works because I would imagine he isn’t the only one allergic to oats that might be reading this! It could be really helpful to someone! I’m so glad you asked!
What would be an OK alternative to the 1/3 bone broth protein? thank you!
Hi Melissa! Any vanilla protein powder will swap here easily. Otherwise, you can add more oats or something like hemp hearts to soak the moisture up. I hope that helps!
Delicious! My new go-to!
Hi Maya! I’m so glad you loved them as much as we do! Thanks for coming back to share!