Monster Cookie Energy Balls

Monster Cookie Energy Balls are a great afternoon energy boost or perfect for an after school snack. Hearty oats, chocolate chips, peanut butter, honey, and m&m's make these energy balls so delicious and fun.

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword easy energy balls, monster cookie energy balls, snack recipes

Prep Time 15

Total Time 10

Servings energy balls

Calories 104kcal

Author Jessica

Ingredients

2 ½ cups quick oats
1 cup creamy peanut butter not all-natural peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini m&m's

Instructions

Add all ingredients into a mixing bowl. Use a wooden spoon or a handheld mixer to combine together. I find that using a hand mixer is the easiest way to combine the ingredients thoroughly.
Shape into balls, about 1" in size, and place on a plate or Tupperware type container.
* Recipe yields 36 energy balls when shaped into a small 1-inch sized ball.
You can eat right away OR refrigerate for about 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving. I love these cold straight from the fridge.
Store energy balls in a covered container in the fridge.

Notes

Quick Oats : Quick oats are a finer texture oat that is more binding. It acts as flour would in a recipe. For best results use quick oats.

Peanut Butter : Use creamy peanut butter (not all-natural). This is my #1 tip. This recipe has such mixed reviews and I am convinced it's because some people try and use the natural peanut butter. Don't do it. The balls will not hold together well, they will be crumbly, because natural peanut butter does not have the oils in it that are needed to "bind" the energy balls together. The natural peanut butter is drier and not as smooth as regular peanut butter.

Just make sure you are using a peanut butter that does not say 'natural' or "all-natural" on the label.

Of course some may try using natural peanut butter and say that it works fine. Go ahead and try it but for best results use regular creamy peanut butter.

Miniature chocolate chips/Miniature M&M's : Using these do make a difference. The smaller size helps the energy balls bind together better. And you get more chocolate and m&m goodness in each energy ball because they are smaller in size which pairs better with the smaller sized energy ball. Both of these are very easy to find in the store. The mini chocolate chips are in the baking aisle with the other chips and the miniature m&m's are either in the baking aisle or candy aisle with the other m&m varieties.

Recipe has been updated with better pictures, improved text, and slight recipe change in March 2021. The only change was the recipe now calls for quick oats (rather than old-fashioned oats) as that is what will yield the best energy ball after many times testing it. The old-fashioned oats were such a large texture that lots were having trouble getting the energy balls to form. The quick oats are more binding and act like flour would in a cookie recipe.

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