Dark Chocolate Cherry Energy Bites

Treat yourself with these deceptively healthy dark chocolate and cherry energy bites made with delicious, dark chocolate and cherries. The perfect sweet snack that's packed full of energy!

This is a great snack meal prep to include in a meal plan like the meal prep for weight loss.

this RECIPE

When Jordan was an itty bitty baby, she really didn't enjoy falling asleep in her crib.

It was bad.

This led (read: forced) Dustin and me to go on nightly drives to get her fall asleep so we could transfer her back into her crib...and, honestly, to avoid all the crying, screaming, and complaining.

This is such a super easy recipe and has 2 grams of protein in each one totalling 10 grams of protein for just 5 energy balls! Which makes this a My Fave High Protein Snacks.

From Jordan.

Okay, from me, too.

Over time, Dustin and I actually grew to love these nightly escapades - we had an opportunity to discuss the events of the day, this crazy new blog, called A Sweet Pea Chef, I was starting (hee!), fun pipe dreams, and life.

We also found a perfectly located Starbucks (See my Healthiest Drinks At Starbucks Guide) where we usually got a pumpkin spice latte, that was located along the Freeway in San Diego right after Jordan would usually fall asleep.  So, once she fell asleep, we'd stop and grab a coffee for our drive.

It was our thing.

It was on those drives and at that Starbucks that we fell in love with Dark Chocolate Cherry Lattes (this was totally before my clean eating days, folks).

And, thus, began our infatuation with chocolate and cherries.

After that winter, though, Starbucks stopped selling their Dark Chocolate Cherry Mocha and we've yet to see it again.

It's been 8 years.

8 years.

And nothing.

Jordan is 9 now!

We figured it was probably time to move on.  I mean, really, what we really loved was the combination of chocolate and cherries.

Because: yum.

Are Energy Bites Healthy?

Since I’ve been trying to eat clean, high-energy snacks and no-bake chocolate energy bite recipes, I started playing around with energy bite recipes. Dustin suggested I try to make a dark chocolate cherry energy bites recipe.

I’m super excited to show you how to make energy bites with dates, dark chocolate, dried cherries, and other natural, wholesome ingredients. Minus all the sugar and saturated fat that’s often in many so-called “energy bars.” Now, that’s what I call guilt-free!

How to Make Energy Bites

If you haven't tried making your own homemade energy ball or bite recipe before, it really couldn't be easier.  I use my food processor, but you could also use a heavy duty kitchen blender.

All you really have to do is add your ingredients to your food processor and blend until it starts to stick to itself.  The best way to achieve the stickiness is to use dried fruits -- my faves are dates and then I like to add in different dried fruits, like apricots, raisins, and cherries (duh!) to add more flavor.  Dates make energy bites super easy to make -- if your dates happen to be super dry and crumbly, you can soak them in warm water for a bit before using them so they soften some.

To make sure you pack all that energy into your energy bites, you'll also want to add in protein packed nuts, like almonds, pecans, or walnuts -- they make great additions to homemade energy bites.

If you'd like to turn these bites into bars, just form them into a flat rectangle using a parchment paper lined casserole dish and then press into a mold.  Then, divided into bars instead of rolling into balls.  I typically use the amount of 2 bites to make 1 bar, but you can form them into whatever shape you like.

Let's go over some energy bite awesomeness:

1. You can control the ingredients that go into your energy ball or bite or bar
2. They take about 10 minutes to make and last over a week in the fridge
3. They are super flavorful and handy to grab
4. You can create any flavor combination you want
5. They're totally an awesome snack that's raw, vegan, gluten-free, clean, and super yummers
6. chocolate + cherries = <3

Finally! Dustin and I have a new way to reminisce when Jordan would never sleep and we embarked on this crazy business of ours.

And, we get to enjoy the amazing combination of chocolate and cherry with these dark chocolate cherry energy bites. Plus, these are great along side any other meal prep ideas.

If Dark Chocolate Cherry Energy Bites are your go-to, then Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bars will be another favorite with their rich, chocolatey goodness and satisfying texture.

Now, it's your turn!

More Snack Meal Prep

Dark Chocolate Cherry Energy Bites

Lacey Baier

Treat yourself with these deceptively healthy dark chocolate and cherry energy bites. The perfect sweet treat that's packed full of energy!

4.50 from 2 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine American

Servings 15 bites

Calories 81 kcal

Equipment

• Food Processor

*This post may contain affiliate links for products I use often and highly recommend.

Ingredients

  

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• ▢ 1 cup raw almonds
• ▢ ½ cup dark chocolate morsels
• ▢ ½ cup dried cherries
• ▢ 2 cups dates, pitted
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

 

• Add the almonds to the food processor and blend until chopped, but not all the way to a flour.
• Add in the dried cherries, dark chocolate morsels, pitted dates, ground cinnamon, and sea salt.
• Process until an even texture. (If you like there to be chunks of chocolate or cherries, you can stop a little sooner before everything is evenly processed - it’s up to you.)
• Carefully grab a small handful and roll into about 1-inch balls - the mixture will stick to itself pretty easily. You should be able to make about 12-15 energy bites.
• Place the energy bites into the fridge for about 15 minutes to set. These energy balls will keep fresh in an air-tight container for up to a week or you could freeze for longer.

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 1 biteCalories: 81 kcalCarbohydrates: 14.6 gProtein: 2.1 gFat: 3.2 gSaturated Fat: 1.7 gCholesterol: 0.5 mgSodium: 116 mgFiber: 3.3 gSugar: 9.1 g

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?Tag @asweetpeachef on Instagram so we can check it out.

This post contains affiliate links for products I use regularly and highly recommend.