White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Energy Balls
These no bake energy bites are a satisfying option if you want easy healthy snacks (or healthy dessert). Though made with nourishing ingredients, they’ll remind you of the real freshly baked cookie.
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These no bake oatmeal energy balls are inspired by white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. I forget about these cookies because they aren’t as popular, but they’re one of our favorites. It’s a perfect blend of lightly roasted macadamia nuts and sweet white chocolate. They have such a great texture too. Evan heard about the nutrition in macadamia nuts recently on a podcast, and it reminded me of these cookies. I wanted to create a healthier, everyday snack/healthy dessert version of the original.
I used nourishing ingredients, like organic raw macadamia nuts, raw cashews and fiber rich oats, plus good white chocolate chips, to give a great cookie dough texture and baked cookie flavor. They’re like healthy macadamia cookies without the baking or refined ingredients. I love recreating baked goods and desserts into healthier no bake energy bites. I have a handful of other healthy cookie dough recipes like these Chewy Gingerbread No Bake Balls, Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Energy Balls and Healthy Nutella Brownie No-Bake Bites.
Homemade energy balls are a great, easy meal prep option, you have a satisfying snack throughout the week. They’re also great for entertaining for a little sweet nibble while mingling, for tea parties and bridal or baby showers. These would also be a great treat to accompany meals for new moms.
Are macadamia nuts good for you?
If you’re wondering, are macadamia nuts healthy? I’ll explain a bit about their health promoting nutrition below! I also included some resources at the end of this post if you’re curious about reading deeper into their nutrition.
MicroNutrients
Macadamia nuts offer many micronutrients like antioxidants, flavonoids, vitamins (like vitamin E) and minerals. These nutrients help support overall health and prevent chronic diseases.
Healthy Fats
Many nuts are high in polyunsaturated fats, but macadamia nuts contain mostly monounsaturated fats. They primarily contain the same type of fat as extra virgin olive oil, called oleic acid, and also palmitoleic acid. These types of fat have multiple health benefits which include helping to prevent heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Main Ingredients in This Healthy Energy Balls Recipe
Oat flour
I used oat flour in these oat balls, rather than whole oats. love grinding up whole oats (these are the exact oats I use) in the blender until they’re fine, and I used that method for this recipe. I love the texture of this oat flour over whole oats.
Raw Cashews
Raw cashews are often the base to my energy balls because the flavor is neutral and slightly sweet. When they’re blended, they provide a smooth creamy base to mimic cookie dough texture. For this recipe, I made soaked raw cashews by putting them in filtered water for 20 minutes. This way, they’re softened and easier to blend smooth in the food processor (this is the food processor I’ve had for over a decade!).
White chocolate
I used the Guittard brand of white chocolate. It’s delicious, contains minimal ingredients and is soy free if you want to avoid it.
Macadamia Nuts
I used raw macadamia nuts (this exact one) for this recipe, so they wouldn’t have any added salt and I could control how roasted I wanted them. When you have a macadamia nut cookie, some nuts stay raw and the outer parts get a little roasted, so I wanted to copy that.
Raw Honey
I used a good neutral flavored raw honey for this energy ball recipe. I’ve been liking a wildflower honey for its neutral sweetness.
Recipe for ‘White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Energy Balls’
Prep Time: ~20 mins
Yields: 10-12 balls
Ingredients
1/3 cup soaked raw, unsalted cashews
1/4 cup raw, unsalted macadamia nuts
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1 teas raw honey
1/4 teas vanilla extract
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp oat flour
1 tbsp white chocolate chips
Directions
To start, soak the cashews in a bowl of water to cover
Roast the macadamia nuts in an oven heated to 325 for about 5 minutes, just until they start to brown and you can smell them. (Friendly tip: roast a few extra so you can take bites with white chocolate chips as you make the rest of the recipe :))
Add the soaked cashews to a food processor right from the bowl and blend until smooth
Then add the honey, salt and vanilla and 1/4 cup of oat flour and blend until smooth. Test the mixture, if it’s wet or sticky, add a teaspoon of oat flour at a time until the texture holds together well but isn’t sticky.
Add the macadamia nuts and white chocolate and pulse until the pieces are broken up and the mixture holds together.
Scoop the mixture with a (heaping) teaspoon measuring spoon and roll into balls. I find squeezing the mixture into a ball helps and then gently rolling so it doesn’t fall apart.
Enjoy!