Is there any recipe we CAN’T make delicious with chickpeas?! Today’s recipe proves that the answer to that question is NOPE – they are the ingredient that keeps on giving! I’m bringing you guys a creation I’ve wanted to try my hand at for a while – ‘no bake’ energy balls without dates. I do really enjoy baking, but sometimes I prefer to have a recipe to hand that just takes that little bit less time. Plus, with summer on the horizon, I’m sure like me you’ll want to have the heat of the oven in the house less and less! I’ve seen a lot of ‘Chickpea Cookie Dough’ recipes in the past, and I have tried one or two, but I didn’t find that very transportable as a snack on the go! So here’s my latest snack attack solution for you guys – a ‘no bake’ chocolate chickpea energy-packed snack that’s both tasty to eat and time-friendly to make! I do enjoy date-based energy balls, but to be honest, find them a little bit faffy to make myself, while these are super simple and tasty just as good!

Recipe (Makes 12 energy balls)

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp almond or peanut butter (or use a mix!)
• 2 heaped tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp raw cacao powder
• 1 tbsp of mixed nuts or seeds (chia, flax, pumpkin, sunflower are my favourites, and I’ve also tried this recipe by adding a Kindsnacks bar in too!)
• 1 400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

Method

1. Add the chickpeas to a large mixing bowl, and using a fork, mash them until smooth.
2. Add the honey, and nut butter and stir into the chickpeas to combine using a spoon.
3. Add the cacao powder into the wet ingredient mix and stir with the spoon until fully combined.
4. Fold in the nuts and/or seeds last.
5. Grab a square baking tin (about 1 inch deep) lined with either grease-proof paper or tinfoil lined with a non-stick spray or a little oil to stop the mix sticking.
6. Time to get a little messy! Use your hands to roll the mixture into small balls – you should get 12 from this recipe but if you make them smaller you’ll get more of course!
7. If you wanna get fancy, pop a nut into the centre on each ball on top!
8. Pop the tin into the freezer for 1 hour to allow the mixture to set.
9. Remove from the freezer when you want to grab one on the go and wrap it up to take in your bag for the day! Obviously they will be quite hardened when frozen so the reason for freezing is to get them to set, and then you can grab one as your snack of the day!
10. Store in a tupper-ware in the fridge for up to a week, or like I say freeze the balls either! They will remain harder if you freeze them compared to refridgeration storage so bear that in mind.

Enjoy guys! Tag me if you try this recipe out – @theirishbalance on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook!

Ciara 🙂 x