Chocolate Covered Cherry Protein Bites

Hey There!

Girlie’s very favorite fruit is (are?) cherries. She loves fresh cherries and will happily use half my grocery budget on out of season fruit. She loves marachino cherries and all things cherry flavored. Except cherry pie, somehow. Poor kid was a couple years into her cherry obsession before I thought to surprise her with a box of chocolate covered cherries. She was in love. I was relieved, as those grandma-ish fancy boxes of chocolate covered cherries generally run about $1.99. Which kinda makes sense knowing grandma treat budgets. Unfortunately chocolate covered cherries are kinda the opposite of a healthy, protein filled snack.

I aim to make a batch of protein bites or balls every week or so to snack on. With Girlie home for summer vacation I wanted to try to make something she would enjoy too. I loved these, she thought they should be sweeter. I think for kids it’s worth adding a couple tablespoons of honey or maple syrup. That would make this a little heavier on carbs than what I’m looking for right now though. If you’re looking for a more kid approved sweet treat that’s high in protein, check out my Protein Buckeyes, they’re Girlie’s favorite.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Protein Sticky Bites

1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cherries (chopped)
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup peanut butter
4 scoops chocolate protein powder
approx 1/2 cup water

yields 28

Line a mini muffin tin with liners. (Paper, foil, silicone, whatever…) Mix all ingredients except water in a large bowl. Slowly add up to a half cup of water to get to right consistency. (This will get sticky) Spoon into mini muffin liners. Refrigerate in the muffin tin until more solid then you can move to a resealable container.

Clearly nutrition info will depend on brands used. MyFitnessPal gave me stats of 145 calories, 13g carbs, 7g fat, 8g protein.