By Energy balls have been a staple of my expeditions for the last 7 years; relatively easy to make, calorie-dense, and still delicious even after a month of eating them 2 or 3 times a day.
I came up with this recipe while preparing for a 50-day, 1,000-mile solo canoe trip in the Arctic that was eventually covered in my book, Perseverance.
Nutritious, natural, and delicious. They’ve powered me for many a mile and I hope you enjoy them as well.
Energy Ball Ingredients
The recipe is very forgiving: you really can add almost anything to the mix. It’s not like you’re making fine French pasteries where a single extra tablespoon of an ingredient ruins the whole thing. So feel free to experiment, substitute and add additional ingredients.
Here’s the list of ingredients that went into the energy balls today:
- 450 grams fresh, pitted dates
- 900 grams almond butter
- 400 grams rolled oats
- 200 grams almond flour and/or toasted hazelnut flour (see note below)
- 50 grams shredded coconut (optional)
- 2 cups chocolate chips
- 1 to 2 cups maple syrup
- Water as needed
- 1 to 2 cups sesame seeds
To make toasted hazelnut flour put hazelnuts onto a baking pan and place in an oven set to 350°F oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove and let cool, then rub the nuts to remove most of the darkened skin which should flake off easily and make the resultant flour less bitter. Finally run the toasted and skinned nuts through a food processor to reduce them to a fine meal.
Energy Ball Instructions
The first step is make a paste from the dates and the almond butter. This paste forms the matrix into which you then put everything else.
You could use a strong food processor if you have one.
The fresh dates and almond butter mixture
Mixing the dates and almond butter into a smooth paste with a food processor.
The next step is to add the extra ingredients. In today’s variation that meant adding the oats, almond flour and chocolate chips and then mixing everything by hand.
Oats, almond flour, and chocolate chips added.
The next step is to mould the mixture into golf-ball sized orbs. If your mixture doesn’t stick together very well you may need to moisten it by sprinkling some water in and mixing it by hand.
Then roll the balls in sesame seeds which adds some extra flavour and prevents the balls from sticking together.
Finished Energy Balls
Store these balls in the fridge or freezer until your trip. I’ve had them last 2 months without refrigeration in relatively cool conditions.
A Difficult Adventure in the Far North
You can order my book “Perseverance, Life and Death in the Subarctic” on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indigo/Chapters, or your local bookstore!
It was an incredibly difficult journey, but I think it turned into a pretty good book! And I ate a TON of these energy balls on this trip!!
