Tips, Tricks, & Substitutions

• Nut Butter: My favorite nut butter to use is my mixed nut butter. So delicious! But any nut butter works, store bought or homemade. Always get a nut butter where the only ingredients are nuts and salt. If it has added oil (especially palm oil), the nut butter doesn't set up properly when using for these energy bite cookie balls.
• Nut Free: If you need this to be nut free, be sure to use sunflower seed butter or coconut butter. And substitute sunflower seeds for sliced almonds. Same quantity for all substitutions.
• Coconut Free: If you need this to be coconut free, you can leave out the coconut flakes. Substitute either more oats or more nuts. And use avocado oil or ghee for coconut oil. Same quantity for all quantities.
• Collagen Peptides: You can really use any protein powder. Just keep in mind if it's a flavored protein powder (like chocolate), this will alter the taste. My go to protein powder is collagen peptides. This is also optional. If you don't have any protein powder you can just leave this out. No need to substitute anything else.
• Vegan/Plant Based: If you need these to be vegan/plant based, make sure you use a vegan/plant based protein powder. Keep in mind flavored protein powders will alter the taste a bit.
• Chia Seeds/Hemp Hearts/Flax Meal: All 3 of these are superfoods, and contain tons of fiber and antioxidants! You'll be using a total of 6 tablespoons of these add-ins. If you only have 1 or 2 of them, for instance just chia seeds and hemp hearts but no flax meal, just use 3 tablespoons of chia seeds and hemp hearts to reach the 6 tablespoons needed.
• Dark Chocolate: My very favorite dark chocolate to use is Hu Kitchen Dark Chocolate Gems. They have the BEST ingredients list! Code TASTESLOVELY for 15% off.
• Sweetener: You need to use a "wet" sweetener for these, since it helps bind them and keep them moist. My favorite is pure maple syrup. I get mine at Costco. You could also use honey, unless you have a baby under 1 year old since honey is recommended to avoid until the baby is 1. Agave would work too! Or date paste. Same quantities for all sweeteners.
• Sticky: The mixture is a bit sticky, so get ready to have some sticky hands! You can also wet your hands to make it a bit less messy when rolling the dough.
• Eating + Traveling: You can eat this cold from the fridge, they get a bit harder when cold. They're a little too hard to eat frozen from the freezer. They're also fine to pack in lunches and be at room temperature. They get softer and a bit stickier when at room temperature. But still delicious!

Storage Tips

• Store these keto energy balls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
• To freeze, store them in a freezer-safe ziptop bag in the freezer for up to 1 year. Pop them in the fridge to defrost before eating.