Spiced Energy Balls with Apricots & Almond Butter

If you're not a fan of sickly sweet energy bars, try these nutty, slightly more savoury energy balls. Spiced with either cardamom or ginger, depending on your preference, they're made with apricots and almond butter for slower releasing energy. 

Ingredients for about 30 x 12g balls

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160˚C/gas mark 3. Pop the almonds on a baking tray and roast in the oven for 5 minutes, until lightly roasted. Leave to cool for a few minutes.
2. Place the almonds in a food processor and pulse until roughly chopped (not too fine as you want them to add a crunch to the balls). Remove and set aside.
3. Place the oats in the food processor and pulse until fine, then add the apricots and dates and pulse again until fine. Add the rice protein if using, and pulse. Then add the almond butter, ground cardamom or ginger and the chopped almonds and give the mix a quick blast to combine.
4. Remove the mix and place in a bowl. With your hands, press the mixture together to form a dough.
5. Take small handfuls of mixture, about 12g each, and roll into balls in the palm of your hands.
6. Spoon 2 tbsp of ground almonds into a bowl and then toss the balls in the mix to cover completely.
7. These will keep for a couple of weeks, stored in a plastic bag or airtight container.