These little bites works as the perfect weekday snack, evening treat, or portable endurance fuel. You get that comforting banana bread flavor from the combination of oats, banana, maple, cinnamon, vanilla, and walnuts all packed into little raw balls/bites that come together in just minutes. Plus chocolate chips for an extra dose of sweetness and indulgence!
The oats get blended into a flour and then walnuts and chocolate chips join the party and get blended until finely chopped. When you add in the wet ingredients, the dough will come together pretty quickly. Transfer to a bowl and then blend up the remaining walnuts that you’ll work into the dough for a nice buttery walnut crunch!
Servings 30 small bites
Prep Time 5 minutes Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 2 cups raw walnuts, divided
- ¼ cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ¼ cup mashed ripe banana
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a high-speed blender or food processor add the oats and blend on med-high into a coarse flour. Add 1 cup walnuts, chocolate chips, cinnamon and salt and blend on med-high until everything is finely chopped (we don’t want big chocolate chip chunks).
- Add the banana, maple syrup (depending on how ripe your banana is, you can do more or less maple syrup) and vanilla and pulse until a sticky dough forms.
- Transfer to a bowl. Add remaining 1 cup walnuts to the blender and blend to roughly chop. Work the walnuts into the dough (use your hands!). Use a small scoop or roll into small balls.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. If frozen, let it sit out for at least 10 minutes, but they’re BEST after 30 minutes or longer if you can wait!
Items you can prep ahead (optional)
- Balls can be prepped and stored in freezer to snack on during the week.
Substitutions:
- Depending on how ripe your banana is, add more or less maple syrup. The riper the banana, the more banana flavor and sweetness.
- You could use cashews or almonds, but walnuts work best since they are high in fat. If you use a drier nut, you may need to add a bit of coconut oil or more banana for moisture.
- Spice it up with some dried or fresh grated ginger!
Storage:
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Since there is fresh banana in these, they’ll last longer frozen.
Leftovers + Repurposing:
- If the texture is too hard or cold out of the freezer, let it sit out for at least 10 minutes before eating, though they’re BEST after 30 minutes or longer.
