A great snack for kids
Healthy and quick snacks can often be difficult to find and many school lunchboxes include mini cheddars, chocolates and biscuits as a snack option. I know when I was breastfeeding as well I needed to eat often and snacking throughout the day helped keep up my energy levels however I often turned to rusks which can be quite high in sugar.
My sister makes date balls for her kids lunchboxes and so I decided to give them a try. I looked through a few recipes and then came up with my own based on the ingredients I keep in my house. These date balls don't even need to be baked just cooled in the fridge.
NOTE: Dates are high in natural sugar so try not to consume them on their own but with a protein or fat source ( like in this recipe). Never have more than 3 of these date balls at one time as even natural sugar can contain spikes in your blood glucose levels and too much shouldn't be consumed at one time.
Here is the recipe ( feel free to tweak it as needed as even with 1 tbsp of peanut butter the balls still have quite a strong peanut butter taste)
Ingredients:
2 cups unsweetened dates
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup flaked almonds ( you could use whole almonds and just grind them)
1 cup unsweetened dessicated coconut
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsps olive oil ( many recipes suggest coconut oil)
1 tbsp peanut butter ( I used the yellow lid no sugar added option)
Method:
1. Grind the dates and almonds together in a food processor (I used the grinding blade on my nutribullet and worked like a charm
2. Add the oats and coconut to the ground dates and almonds
3. Mix together well
4. Add butter, oil and peanut butter
5. Mix well together
6. Using your hands form mixtures into little balls (Mine were about 3-4cm in diameter)
7. Store in airtight container in the fridge for min 2 hours ( Continue to store in fridge once prepared)
I hope yours turn out as delicious as mine