No Bake Peanut Butter Energy Balls

I don’t eat before I workout in the morning. The reasons are threefold: 1) Food sits heavy on my stomach in the morning, 2) I don’t NEED to. Meaning, some people legitimately cannot workout without having some sort of food before because they end up feeling faint and shitty, 3) I already get up way earlier than I want to for the gym (6:30) and I ain’t getting up any earlier for food.

HOWEVER. Orange Theory is a very intense workout and, lately, I’ve found myself wondering if having a very easy something to pop in my mouth on my way out the door to the gym would help my energy levels once there. My friend swears by having a spoonful of peanut butter and a Cutie (yes, those little baby tangerines), which I love the idea of. But before I do that, I decided to make some no bake energy balls because they usually consist of peanut butter and chocolate which is my favorite combo of all time.

These turned out beautifully and taste SO DAMN good. Can’t wait to grab it, pop it, and werk it out.

INGREDIENTS:

1 and 3/4 cup rolled oats

1 cup peanut butter (whatever kind you want: creamy, crunchy, natural, JIF. Whatever)

1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal

1/4 cup plus 2 TBSP pure maple syrup

2 TBSP cacao nibs

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

Combine it all into a big bowl and mix together using as many utensils as you need. I thought it’d be cute to use my hands at first and that was really dumb. Once it’s all mixed together, create 15-18 balls, put them on something that can fit in your freezer, and keep them in there for an hour. After the hour, take them out, transfer them into a Tupperware, and you are good to go. Enjoy!