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Want the delicious taste of Pecan Pie without having to turn on your oven? Try these healthy 3-ingredient plus spices Pecan Pie Energy Balls that are ready in minutes and perfect for healthy snacking on the run.
For a while now Lee and I have been wanting to collaborate on a project between The Healthy Maven and Fit Foodie Finds. This certainly isn’t our first time collaborating (let’s not discuss the last time we posted on SHEuncovered and The Blogger Project..whoops) and our monthly round-ups along with our favorite blogging ladies are always a good time but never have we had some one-on-one FFF-THM fun.
We’ve been brainstorming a lot over the past few weeks and then finally it hit us over our daily skype convo (while eating balls I might add) that bombarding you guys with an explosive amount of balls was clearly what we were born to partner on.
The rest is history…
It’s no secret that Lee and I love balls. I can remember when I was a closet FFF reader and Lee would blog about her escapades with her friend Carly making balls. Or that time she held a ball making session at her old job? In addition to being a ball aficionado, I am a certifiable stalker.
As for me, well I love balls so much that I took a job working for an energy ball company. I’m happy to report that Kewaza is still going strong…even in my absence LOL.
So setting out to create 12 ball recipes in one week is basically like a walk in the park for us.
I am beyond excited to share all of Energy Ball Week’s recipes with you as well as promote Lee’s insane-looking recipes too. It kind of kills me to only be able to post one recipe a day but I have enough balls to help me deal with the emotional eating that will likely ensue.
When trying to decide which recipe to kick off the week with I turned to Lee. Her Cherry Pie Energy Balls were on the docket so I figured I would pair them with my very own pie ball recipe.
These Pecan Pie Energy Balls are ridiculously easy, delicious and really do give you that boost of energy that you’re looking for when you reach for your balls (omg this post has made me LOL at least 6 times…). I know this for a fact since I brought these babies to Yosemite and they literally saved my life along our 15 mile hike!
The key to this recipe is to toast the pecans. While you can certainly keep them raw, the toasting is what truly makes them taste like pecan pie. Minus all the other crap that typically comes with it.
I hope you’ll stick around as Lee and I bring you 12 Healthy Energy Ball Recipes this week! It’s like Christmas but for balls. K I’m done.
PrintPecan Pie Energy Balls
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 16 balls 1x
- Category: Snack
- Method: Raw
Ingredients
- 1 cup pitted dates (I used honey dates but medjool work too)*
- 1 cup pecans
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp dried ginger
- optional: sprinkle of sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Place pecans on a baking sheet and toast for 6-8 minutes, watching to ensure they don’t burn.
- Add dates to a food processor and process until broken up into bits.
- Add in pecans and spices and process until well combined (about 3 minutes).
- Mixture is done when dough easily sticks together.
- Roll into 16 balls.
- Place in freezer for 15 minutes before storing in refrigerator.
*Make sure your dates are sticky. If not, soak them in hot water for 15 minutes to soften and then drain.
These look delicious. Just wondering how many calories per ball?
Thx.
I made these the other day..sooo delish!!! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Absolutely. Cooking is pretty much alchemy, turning one (or many, as the case may be) substance into a different one. I got a little thrill out of mixing baking powder with warm applesauce for your banana bread last night. lol Anyway, I think that’s the issue! My pecans have definitely not been cool when I use them! In fact, they sizzle when I pour the vanilla on ’em… I don’t use nuts except in recipes, so I toast them to-order for this when I’m getting the process going. I’ll try cooling them down next time and let you know how that goes. 🙂
keep me posted Sherwood!!!
Made these as the balls of the week. It’s been a while since I’ve made balls involving nuts, so like I did the first time I made balls I over-processed these and lost most of the oil and, I suspect, pecan taste. They’re very dense and chewy, something I’ll never complain about. However, I’m sure they’re not supposed to be that way, and it tastes like poor decision-making. I might just make these again this weekend so I can do ’em right. There’s still some pecan taste, but it’s very light. These definitely taste a lot like pecan pie filling, and that thrills me. I can’t wait to see what these taste like when made right! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Aw I’m sorry they were too dense! Yes, pecans are pretty sensitive to over-processing so be a bit careful next time but no matter what, they’ll still taste delish!
Finally got around to trying these again. I was really careful about not over-processing them and losing all the pecan oil. I think I under-did it this time, though. lol While I managed to get the “dough” into balls (they fought me), they pretty much fall apart as soon as you take a bite out of ’em. They also don’t have that pecan pie filling-like gooeyness that the over-processed ones had. They’re still pretty friggin’ tasty, but not perfect. I guess I’m just gonna have to make ’em a third time! Shucks. 😀 I have a plan in mind, though. I’m going to process the dates for longer before throwing in the pecans and spices. I think that oughtta do the trick!
Oh man, these little guys have been tricky for ya haven’t they! My suggestion would be to make sure the pecans are cool before adding them to the food processor and if they’re a little too sticky, try throwing them in the fridge for 10-20 mins to let them firm up. That should do it! If not I’m out of advice for ya 🙁 They seem to always work out for me, but we both know that as an environment changes, so do the results! Just like a science experiment haha