Fall Energy Bites so Fall Doesn't Have to Bite.

I love fall.

Unabashedly.

There are summer people, spring people, and I suppose soulless weirdos somewhere who are winter people, but I am definitely a fall person.

I wait all year for fall.

The crispness in the air is my favourite experience of life. Truly. Nothing makes me feel more exhilarated and, at the same time, so calm and at peace.It's the time of year when I hike the most, when I bake the most, when I read the most, when I connect to others the most. It's a busy time for me, trying to fit in all my fall-happiness.

But I'll stop going on about it. If you'd like to read further about my love of fall, I went into it in some length on my post from last year (along with a recipe for Instant Pot apple sauce which is SO comforting on a gloomy day like today).

What brings me here today is to share with you a much coveted NO NUT energy ball recipe. The no-nuts ban in schools has me scrambling weekly to try to figure out what to send for snacks that aren't just fruits and veggies or treats loaded with sugar or empty calories. Things to actually sustain my tiny learner. Believe me, we are a nut-dependant family. I keep saying that if our tiny babe ends up allergic to nuts, we're going to have to give her away because there's no way our family could survive. It's a joke, of course, but isn't there a grain of truth in every joke? Instead of sneaking treats in the evening after the kids go to sleep (don't act like you don't either), I'll be hugging a jar of peanut butter and silently weeping. It'll be dire straits up in here if allergies do arise. Fingers crossed there aren't any!

These bites are a cross between an energy ball and a cookie. They are stuffed full of the wonderful things in energy balls (chia seeds, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc.) but they are crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle like a cookie.

They are heavenly.

I first encountered these as "Energy Orbs" at the café inside the Rotary Art centre while I was trapped there everyday for three hours during my daughter's art camp a few summers ago. I read the ingredients list taped to the side of the jar and tried to make my best rendition of them, with my own spin.

They are comforting with warming spices and full of healthy fats and fibre to keep you going.

A strange ingredient that was new to me at the time was puffed quinoa. This last time I went hunting for it though, I couldn't find quinoa on its own, but a mixture of black bean, sorghum, and quinoa puffs. They worked just the same! (Head to Bulk Barn to find this particular ingredient.)

Another ingredient that many of you may not use often is Besan flour. I recently read about the difference between besan and chickpea flour after believing them the be the same thing for years and interchanging them in recipes (which wasn't always successful). If you'd like to read about the differences yourself, here's where I read about it. It also happens to be one of my favourite vegan blog sites, so take a look around! I have another post in the works that uses besan flour, so if you buy some, I'll have another use for it posted soon. I do not recommend using chickpea flour for this recipe, but if you do, you might have to increase the amount of oil or maple syrup in order to make it moist enough to stick together.

Fall Bites Makes 16-24, depending on the size

1 cup besan flour
1 cup puffed quinoa (or the puff mixture I mentioned above)
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup hemp seeds
2 tbsps. pumpkin spice blend (OR 1 tbsp. cinnamon, 2 tsp ground ginger, 1/2 tsp ground allspice, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ground clove)
8 dried figs, finely chopped
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

1) Preheat the oven to 300F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment.
2) Heat the oil, the syrup, vanilla, and salt in a pot on the stove until warm.
3) In a bowl, mix all the other ingredients, then add in the liquid. Stir to combine.
4) Form balls with your hands into your desired size. It may look too crumbly in the bowl, but a little pressure will smush it all together and they will hold.
5) Bake for 10-15 minutes until the bottoms are golden. Watch them and do not let them burn. It's necessary to cook them to take some of the bitterness out of them.
6) Cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes and they will harden.

Store in a glass container in the fridge or in the freezer for weeks for a fast lunch kit addition.

These are one of the only recipes that I make that uses the pre-mixed pumpkin pie spice. Even my pumpkin pie recipe uses the loose spices. They are the same spices but maybe it's just the association I have between the pumpkin spice mix and the godawful PSL.

That's right, I said it, I HATE pumpkin spice lattes. Barf.

Give me those spices in a baked good and coffee on the side and I'm a happy camper.

Speaking of camping, fingers crossed we make it out one last time this year!

Happy Monday <3