If you want a protein-packed sweet treat, Coconut Peanut Butter Oatmeal Balls are the answer!
One of the greatest pleasures in my life is getting to cook with my kids (thank goodness it’s also what I do for a living). Having said that, there are certain recipes that are more appropriate for certain age groups to make than others. Since I’ve got two young children, cooking activities that don’t require the stove are a huge bonus, especially when I’m trying to get both kids involved in the same task at the same time.
There was definitely a mess to clean up when we were finished making these, but it was totally worth every minute. While Chloe was busy licking spoonfuls of peanut butter, pressing her tiny fingers into the coconut on the plate and saying “snow”, Kenya was focused on rolling the peanut butter oatmeal mixture into balls.
Halfway through he decided to improvise and said, “look Mommy, now they’re logs!” I looked down at his creation, then up at him and said “Kenya, you’re a genius!” Maybe that was a little too much praise for a kid just having some fun with food, but to a mom always trying to come up with new and exciting recipes for kids to eat, it was an inspired idea.
But the best idea is cooking with your kids. No matter what you make, the experience is always delicious.
Coconut Peanut Butter Oatmeal Balls
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup peanut butter (you can also use almond, cashew, or sunflower butter)
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
Instructions
- Place the oats in a food processor or blender and pulse until finely ground.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the peanut butter and honey.
- Add the ground oats to the peanut butter mixture and continue to stir until thoroughly combined.
- Using 1 tablespoon of the mixture at a time (I like to use a mini ice cream scooper or a spoon), roll into balls or logs.
- Place the coconut in a separate bowl or plate and roll the balls in the coconut to completely cover.
Notes
- To Freeze: place balls on a sheet tray and freeze for 30 min. Remove, place in a ziploc bag, label and keep frozen up to 3 months. They’re delicious to eat right out of the freezer, too.
Great recipe. The reviews below we’re helpful. 1/4 cup of honey worked perfect for us. Recipe is great, it’s just a personal preference. Thanx Catherine. You are doing great work. Love your recipes. God Bless!
I found these were way too sweet with 1/2 cup honey & needed more oats as they were still too runny/sticky. Probably will cut honey to 1/4 cup next time.
These are fantastic, but they were too sweet. 1/4 cup honey is perfect.
This is a great treat to satisfy that sweet tooth! My 20 month old daughter loved them, so did my husband. I followed the recipe exactly. It was super quick and easy. I would like to try rolling in some form of chocolate next time to experiment.
My husband and boys love these. I use Adams creamy pb, Bob’s Red Mill Old Fashioned Rolled Oats, Clover honey, and Whole Foods Organic Coconut Medium Flakes and it works perfect. I keep them in the fridge, covered and use them as a snack! Delicious and nutritious.
I bet these would taste good half dipped in dark chocolate!
We are going to make these tonight! What I love about your recipes is that I usually never have to make a special trip to the grocery store to purchase the ingredients. I almost always have them in my fridge or pantry. They are just our staples!!!
These sound great! Can’t wait to try them!
Steel cut oats take longer to cook and tend to get rubbery in baked goods so I wouldn’t try those. Quick oats may work, but those cook so quickly and are a smaller cut that they might get mushy. Choosing between the two I would go with the quick oats and not grind them too fine.
Will steel cut oats work? I have that, but not regular oatmeal. Oh and I have quick oats….will one of those work since its grinded up anyway? Thanks!
Awesome recipe! Loving it like you would not believe. No oven or stove action. Sold!
This has become our new favorite snack food. We use almond butter and mix a bit of coconut flour in with the oat flour. My littles love them and I love that they are getting protein during snack. They’ve got dairy allergies, so it has been a challenge finding snack-friendly protein. Thanks for the great recipe!
Measure the oats and then grind them! How many did you get out of the recipe? Make sure you’re using a 1 teaspoon measure and not 1 tablespoon. 🙂
I tried this recipe and it didnt even come close to the amount of balls you say it should (using 1 tsp.). Im wondering if Im reading the recipe wrong. hould I be measuring 1 1/4 cups of already ground oats or mesure the oats and then grind them up. I did the later and Im wondering if thats where I went wrong. They still tasted great!
These were wonderful! Thanks for sharing the recipe. I added a little wheat germ as well and my boys loved them!
made these with the kids just now, they had a blast making them. didn’t have any coconut so we used ground flax meal and also used natural organic almond butter. another great hit from weelicious :))) cannot wait for your cookbook