CHRISTMAS WALNUTS ENERGY BITES
These Christmas Walnuts Energy Bites are a cute, easy snack. Made with 10 ingredients, filled with a delicious cranberry jam that will satisfy any sweet tooth!
Here we are in the month of lights, joy, presents and treats; yummy TREATS. Yay!
What a better way to begin the holiday season than with these Christmas walnut energy bites. These are actually to die for. Wholesome, slightly sweet, super satisfying, and very keep-in-the-fridge/ready-whenever-you-need-them. We’re calling them weekly. You will too!
Oh, and did I mention they have an optional but highly recommended white cacao butter glaze? What a deal! The best part is, they also have a vitamin C booster touch you can keep in your recipe or discard. (I’ll talk about it in my notes, recipe card below).
Perfect for anytime snack. These little sweet, chewy bites with hints of spices and toasted nuts are ready to boost you all day long!
How to Make Christmas Walnuts Energy Balls
Everything starts by pulsing toasted walnuts. Then, medjool dates and almond flour in a food processor. While the dates provide sweetness and binding, walnuts and almond flour are adding texture and structure.
Then, we add vitamin C booster powder for getting a healthier snack (optional) orange zest, nut meg, all spice for a decadent Christmas scent. It’s a winner!
And a little coconut oil to moisture our energy balls, plus a little vanilla extract and sea salt to further enhance the flavors.
A few more pulses in the food processor turns the mixture in a rollable, kinda dough- y.
The rest is a piece of cake… or a piece of energy bites? In any case:
Fill them up… (if you want)
Round them up
Freeze them up
Eat them up! Giggle
All that is (optionally) left to do is to fill and decorate the bites! For filling our snack bites we made a simple homemade jam by cooking fresh cranberries with fresh orange juice, coconut sugar, cinnamon and a mixture of water with rum and arrowroot flour for thickening and extra flavor in the mixture. The results, an amazing, yummy, vibrant scarlet cranberry jam.
Now, let’s talk about the decoration. Our favorite way is coating with a glaze of melted cacao butter, powdered coconut milk and powdered sugar, then topping with little pieces of dry cranberry and pumpkin seeds to keep our Christmas mood on! Look at those beauties!
Be the Creator of Your Own Energy Bites
This recipe calls for flexibility! You can toss different nuts, figs, maple syrup or honey instead of medjool dates to sweet the bites. You want to skip the cranberry filling? No problem, they’ll taste good as well without it. Did some cranberries or chocolate chips fall in that food processor while you were mixing?! That’s good, you’re following your gut!😉
Whatever you make them, they are great for an easy grab! And if you end up making them as a holiday treat, they’re perfect to give away to relatives and friends. I think they’ll be a hit because they’re the perfect delicious, healthy, cutie snack ever!
This would make the perfect snack when you’re craving a comforting, satisfying dinner.
You’ll like every bit of it. It’s finger-lickin’ good! Enjoy it, friends!🌞
If you like this healthy treats, you might love these:
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Christmas Walnuts Energy Bites
Ingredients
Energy Bites
- 1½ cups roasted walnuts
- ½ cup almond flour
- 2 tbsp vitamin C booster powder (optional)
- 1½ cups medjool dates, pitted soak in warm water for 15 minutes
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp allspice
- 1 tsp zest orange
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp unflavored coconut oil
Cranberry Jam Filling (optional)
- 3 cups fresh cranberries
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice
- 2 tsp water
- 1 tsp rum (optional)
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- pinch sea salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
Glaze (optional)
- ½ cup cacao butter melted
- ¼ cup powdered sugar Lakanto
- 7 tbsp powdered coconut milk or regular
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cranberry Jam
- In a pot, toss the fresh cranberries with orange juice and mixture of water, rum and arrowroot flour. Cook until cranberries start breaking down (between 7-8 minutes). Then add, sugar, cinnamon and salt and stir continuously for about 7-6 more minutes or until getting a thicker consistency.
Stove Top Toasting Walnuts
- Heat heavy bottomed pan over medium heat and add in the nuts. Spread nuts evenly over the pan surface and let them sit for 10 seconds. Keep stirring for about 3-4 minutes or until the nuts become fragrant. Watch that they don't burn on any hotspots. Letting cool down and then blitz until you have a coarse flour.
Bites
- Add pitted dates in the food processor. Then, add the process walnuts and almond flour. Pulse until well combined and only small chunks of date remain.
- Toss the rest of the ingredients and blitz again until have a sticky dough when you squeeze it but dry enough not to stick to your hands too much. If too dry, add more almond flour 1 Tbsp at a time. If too sticky, add more coarse walnuts 1 Tbsp at a time.
- Scoop out 2-Tbsp amounts and use your hands to roll into balls. Place balls on a parchment-lined plate or baking sheet and transfer to the fridge for 20 minutes, or until semi-firm to the touch. If you're going to fill the bites with cranberry jam, you have to press with your hands and use a finger to form a hollow in the middle (to this point the bites have to look like the head of a mushroom) where you can place some of the cranberry jam mixture. Then carefully, close the dough and form a ball. (check the notes below, I explain how to use a silicone mold to make the cranberry balls for the filling).
Cranberry Jam Filling
- Use 4 tbsp of glaze (see the instruction below) and add to this part of the glaze 2 tbsp of cranberry jam. Stir until combine everything. Use this mixture to fill the energy bites.
Glaze
- Boil water in a saucepan. Remove from heat then place a pan or heat resistance bowl over boiled water and make sure it doesn't touch the water. (This method prevents the cacao butter from burning). Melt cacao butter on the double boiler.
- In a food processor, add powdered sugar and powdered coconut milk. Blitz for some seconds to give it a mix. Then add the melted cacao butter to this mixture and pulse to get a running and smooth texture. Separate 4 tbsp of glace in a different container and leave the rest to decorate the top of the bites.
- Remove bites from the fridge. Dunk the top of each bite into the glaze or use a spoon to spread some of glaze, then transfer back to your parchment-lined plate or baking sheet.
- Once all balls are glazed, option to place little pieces of dry cranberries and a pumpkin seed on each ball while the glaze is still wet. Leave them to set at room temperature or place in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes to harden faster.
- Enjoy right away or whenever you need a quick snack! Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Note that the glaze can get soft at warm temperatures.
Notes
Vitamin C Booster Powder: This ingredient is a plus for the energy bites, making of this snack a natural and bio-available Vitamin C source. For this recipe I used The Australian Super Food brand. You find it in Amazon.