Peanut Butter Cup Amazeballs
They may taste like a treat, but these peanut butter cup protein balls are healthy! Keep them around in the fridge to have on hand for a boost of healthy fat and protein!
It was only a matter of time, right?
Since amazeballs are a standard snack in our house, I love to come up with new flavor combos. Recently, I’ve been switching up my nut butter rotation. I’ve always loved almond butter, but way back before I knew AB existed (and my wallet was a lot happier), I was a peanut butter girl. Lately, I’ve rekindled my love for peanut butter just to switch things up, and as soon as I put some into the food processor to make amazeballs, I had visions of Reese’s peanut butter cups dancing in my brain.
And then this happened:
So it’s not a real Reese’s -and I may have to track one down after writing this post now- but it’s a great protein-packed snack option and fun flavor alternative to the usual amazeball.
The secret ingredient?
Nutritional yeast.
While it’s optional, it gives the ballz extra protein plus a rich, nutty flavor.
The funny thing is that I was starting to clean up after making these, while holding Liv, and she kept saying, “bite?! bite?”
I always share my food with her -somehow she thinks it tastes better if it came off my plate- and enjoy the obviously off-limit things (like a glass of red) after she’s tucked into bed for the night. But now, here she was wanting a bite of my protein powder-filled ball.
I gave her a bite of the apple I’d chopped for us on the counter, and she shook her head, pointing to the food processor, still saying, “bite?”
The girl can’t be fooled, and I would have felt like a giant jerk trying to ignore her and washing out the container in front of her very eyes. I gave her a little bite. Not what I’d call a toddler-friendly snack -I’d love to make her something like this– but she was pretty happy. Lesson of the day: if she can’t have some, I’ll save it for naptime. 😉
Peanut Butter Cup Amazeballs
- Yield: 5 1x
Ingredients
- 2 T peanut butter (or any nut butter you love)
- 2 T protein powder of choice (I love my Sun Warrior, but anything will work- chocolate or vanilla flavor)
- 1 t cocoa powder
- 1–2 t nutritional yeast (optional; a little goes a long way, so remember that you can always add a little more)
- 2 T unsweetened coconut flakes or oats
- 1/4 t cinnamon
- pinch of sea salt
- 1/2 t vanilla
- 2 T maple syrup (the pure stuff! Honey works too, but tends to be realllllyyyyy sweet)
- 1/2 pack of Stevia (optional)
- 1 heaping T chocolate chips
- Almond milk, for texture (I used about 1 T)
Instructions
- Pulse all of the ingredients, expect for the chocolate chips in a small food processor, until the texture is smooth.
- Add in the chocolate chips (I love mini ones!), almond milk as needed, and pulse to combine.
- Using a melon ball scooper, or a large spoon, scoop and roll with your hands into spheres. Store covered in the fridge, and enjoy as a portable, protein-packed snack!
Enjoy 🙂
xoxo
Gina
Winter Shape Up check-in! How are you spending your active recovery? Are you eating like PRO today? What PROtein and PROduce-filled snacks are you enjoying?
Here are some more amazeballs flavors:
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Rachel C!
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Oh wow! Thanks for the yummy recipe! I’m not much of a candy person, but I LOVE reeses and peanut butter is my favorite thing ever. Definitely looking to get a new protein powder…I was using Vega before and it ended up upsetting my stomach a lot. I’ve had my eye on sunwarrior for a while!
Check in-I swapped today with Sunday on the workout calendar, so I’ll be doing some steady state cardio. It’s 70 degrees where I am, so I think a run will be lovely! Had a huge salad for lunch with a lentil burger and hummus, as well as an apple, some other fruit throughout the day and a KIND bar 😀
I can’t wait to make these! I love making little bite sized snacks like these, especially when I’m in a crazy rush. Which tends to happen more often than I’d like.
Maybe something like this (or a variation) for your sweet little peanut.
http://weelicious.com/2010/09/14/coconut-peanut-butter-oatmeal-balls-aka-snow-balls/
I don’t have a food processor (asked for that and a Kitchen-Aid stand-up mixer for Christmas, and got the Kitchen-Aid, so I’m still happy, haha) – could I just blend all the ingredients by hand/in the Kitchen-Aid? I make these all the time, and just stir ’em up: http://sweetandfreelife.com/2012/04/peanut-butter-bites, so there’s full oats in there. I guess it just depends on if you like a “chunkier” texture? I highly recommend those PB bites too!!
Active Recovery= my regular T/Th Spin class. But my booty and legs are def feeling yesterdays Winter Shape up!
I’m a sucker for Almond butter (fresh markets being my fav) on apples!
Why didnt you want to share with her? The peanut butter? My sister would only eat off our dad’s plate when she was a baby. 🙂
it was the stevia and cocoa.
I’m def not a mother (nor anywhere close to being one!), so I’m a little out of my element here, but is cocoa bad for little kids?!
Ah makes sense!
Ohh I’m going to make these for sure!! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
anything with peanut butter is oh so good! i would eat a whole batch of amazaballs in one sitting though. no self control. 🙂
I make something very similar to these balls, but I add some oatmeal, ground flax seed and mashed banana to make them a little bit heartier. Then I freeze them and they taste like cookie dough. Even my 6 year old loves to snack on them.
These sound amazing! Once the batch of original amazeballs I made are gone, I will definitely be trying these!
One of these days I’ll have to try some amazeballs. Protein powder isn’t something I ever buy, which is my hesitation.
Did 2 circuits plus extra ab work last night. Hoping to get in at least a walk today, but I would live to get in some cardio since I couldn’t yesterday. My muscles are feeling it today!
Added extra veggies to my sandwich at lunch today, plus had sides of pineapple and sugar snap peas instead of any chips ( even though they’re usually the healthier variety, they are empty calories). Tonight is taco tuesday and I’ll be cooking up some peppers to make them fajita style and get in an extra veggie serving.
I’m 29 years old and I still think everything tastes better from my mom. When I visit my parents- I usually ask my mom to make me a pb&j sandwich for lunch the next day. It makes me happy to know it came from her 🙂
These look so good! I can’t wait to give them a try with soy nut butter or sunflower seed butter. 😀
Today I was pretty sore from workout 1! It kicked my butt!! When I got home from work I decided I needed a good stretch so I did a 1 hour yoga DVD for active recovery today! It felt great! Also had a packed greek salad for lunch and some raw veggies as a snack 🙂
great minds think alike.. i just bought a bunch of nutritional yeast.. thanks for the recipe!
OMG!! THese look incredible!! Will definitely have to try them!! 🙂
These look good. Are these something you use as fuel for workouts or as snacks?
I love how gourmet the amazeball looks! Such a fancy snack!
haha that was purely for photo/blog purposes. usually they go from container to my face while standing in front of the fridge 😉
I can’t wait to try these! I just made the Breakfast cookie and I can’t wait to enjoy it tomorrow morning!:)
I ended up doing recovery yesterday and workout #1 today. You can thank my brother and his friends for showing up in the wee hours of the morning to get to the airport for that. Tara need her beauty sleep!
Chica, you’re a braver woman than I am, mixing nooch with your sweets. A little more convincing, though, and I may get there.
Oh my, that looks amazingly yummy. I’ve never even heard of nutritional yeast though? They have some kind of sandwich spread here which consists of yeast and the smell alone is enough to put me off… It is supposed to be full of B Vitamins though and very good for you!
Haha that is totally my girls!!!! Everything is better from my plate even if it is identical to their plate!!!
Okay YUMMO. I make my own protein slice but I really need to try your protein bites sometime! 🙂
So excited to try these once I get home! My best friend just got a Vitamix so I plan to show her your Amazeballs recipes! Love + Shine CourtStar
Can you use a blender to make these? Or is a food processor best? What kind of food processor do you have or would you recommend? Thanks!!
As if I couldn’t love your blog any more, you go and create this recipe- I just made these and after tasting them, immediately made another batch- so good! Thanks for a great snack, Gina!
PB, can’t go wrong with that. I wonder how much protein these babies have
Those look delicious!!! We are PB junkies in this house…we’re making ’em.
tried these today for snack.. actually eating them as I type… I think I used to much almond milk though because they are a bit runny! oops!!! Still tastes great though!!!! Thanks for the recipe.
Silly question but is the nutritional yeast you used the same thing as Imported Brewer’s Yeast? I couldn’t find anything labeled nutritional yeast at my health food store and now that I’m reading the label I’m confused! Mine says grown on sugar beet molasses.
I made these tonight, but without the nutritional yeast because I don’t have it in the pantry. Mmmmmm. These puppies are DELICIOUS! I love the regular Amazeballs, but I’ll start alternating with this version from now on. Seriously, there is nothing more motivational for a morning run than knowing I can have an Amazeball as a pre-workout snack. It’s the perfect quick and delicious bite before a run. Thank you, Gina!
This is my first ever comment on your site, and yes it is about a ballz recipe 🙂 haha. I loved these!! I have made the original and the pumpkin and this is my favorite. I didn’t have any nutritional yeast (replaced with some chia seeds) and I don’t use stevia so just left that out- other than that exactly the same and it tastes great. Thank you so much for the recipe :). I made your egg muffins recently as well and after I heated them up I put hot sauce on and yummm-o ;). Love your blog.
So I know this is sooo sinful… I confess… I used cookie butter!! It was AMAZING!!
I added an extra tablespoon of protein to make me “feel better” about my choice of butter! Lol
oh em geeee. that sounds fantastic!
and no worries, i’ve made them with cocoa almond butter before 🙂
Apologies if someone already asked, but curious if you know approx the fat/cal content of these? Just curious. I’ll probably make them either way and can eventually calculate it out.
I am not a big chocolate fan, but it is so delicious with the amazing PB, which I AM a huge fan of! Thanks for sharing, and look forward to making these.
I just made these and want to eat the batter straight out of the food processor. Foodgasm!
Trying these now. I didn’t have maple syrup so substituted agave nectar. I also added in some ground flax seed and left out the stevia. I’ll let you know how these are. A great before workout boost in the am.
Thanks.
Kimberly
Made these today and loved them!! I added oats and omitted the nooch, didnt have any on hand. Thanks!!
This recipe made the yummiest batter, but it was SO sticky I could barely form balls! It ended up being clumps on a piece of parchment! Any tips? Thank you!!
I’ve been meaning to make these ever since you posted them and FINALLY did last week for the first time and then again this week. They are so delicious! And my husband fell in love with them too. 😀 Thanks for posting Gina! <3 your blog so much!
yay, so glad you love them!