Sunflower energy bites

Phew! University is starting to get quite busy. I am finding that at the moment, the 2 afternoons that I thought would be a great time t bake are getting filled up pretty quickly with study (which is as it should be). In fact, I am writing this post in a lecture (oops). I am just hoping that I can at least squeeze in one baking session per week. With all this study going on, I definitely need lots of great snacks.

This is the recipe for one of the snacks that I made for uni. I generally try to avoid eating too much package food, but when it comes to snacks this can get tricky. That is why I love playing around with energy bites. An energy bite and a piece of fruit or some vege sticks fills me up. Ok so they are not the most attractive food around, but they sure do taste good.

I have played round with a few different types. Some use rolled oats and peanut butter, others use a combination of dates and nuts. For this recipe I decided to combine the 2 a bit. This recipe mostly came about due to what I had left in the pantry. I had initially planned to use peanuts, however, all that I had in the pantry was sunflower seeds.

Basically you can play round with this recipe a lot! you could use dried apricots instead of the dates and use any kind of nut or seed that you like (hmm apricot and almond just popped into my head!).

The most important thing needed to make these is a good food processor and patience. It can take a few for the dried fruit to break down enough to bind the mix together, but i just use that as an opportunity to clean up around the kitchen.

Ingredients
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup dates, chopped slightly
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 Tbsp honey

1. Place the sunflower seeds in the food processor and whizz for about a minute until they start to break up.
2. Add the other ingredients and whizz for 3-4 minutes more until the mixture sticks together when pinched (this may take more or less time depending on your food processor).
3. Take small handfuls of mixture and squeeze tightly together, then shape into a ball.
4. Repeat with the rest of the mixture. This should make around a dozen energy bites.