The following post was originally featured on Running to the Kitchen and written by Gina Matsoukas, who is part of POPSUGAR Select Fitness.
I used to make a lot of balls/bites/snacks rolled into circular form . . . whatever you want to call them. My favorite, however, is ballz.
I would pop them throughout the day whenever I was (ironically) too busy cooking, styling, photographing other food to eat, before a workout, after a workout, while making dinner and starving, before bed as dessert, seriously . . . all the time.
And then I just randomly stopped for no particular reason.
But, I missed my balls.
So earlier this Fall I made pumpkin spice chocolate chip bites which seemed to be a big hit (and definitely were in my house as about five batches were made) and now, we're doing gingerbread chocolate chip bites.
If I thought I loved the pumpkin ones, these are even better.
Gingery, spicy, chocolaty, chewy, and (relatively) healthy!
Honestly, I'd rather eat these than the loads of red and green food-colored, candy-stuffed cookie concoctions I'm seeing everywhere lately.
Real food for the win.
Ingredients
1 cup oats
1/2 cup pecans
4 medjool dates, pitted
1 tablespoon flaxseed meal
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1/4 cup crystallized ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
Pinch of kosher salt
2 1/2 tablespoons molasses
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
Directions
- Combine the oats, pecans, and dates in a food processor, and process until finely chopped.
- Add the crystallized ginger, flax, chia seeds, spices, and molasses, and pulse until fully combined and mixture can be "pinched together" and hold its shape.
- Transfer mixture to a bowl, and fold in the chocolate chips.
- Roll the mixture into balls.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
