Peanut Butter and Jelly Energy Balls

I made these quinoa balls to bring with me while I travel. Since I’m paying a crazy amount per pound of food that I bring up, I wanted to make sure that it counted. I usually make my energy balls with only peanut butter, but I thought that adding a bit of our homemade jam would be a nice switch-up.

I like to use quinoa flakes for a bit of extra protein and texture, but if you do not have quinoa flakes then just use all oats. My husband wanted a more “jammy” taste, so I also made a batch where I put a bit of jam in the middle. This is an optional step.

MAKES 12 ENERGY BALLS

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup of regular oats
1/2 cup of quinoa flakes
1/2 cup of natural peanut butter (can sub for any nut butter or seed butter)
8 dates (any kind)
4 tablespoons of jam (any flavour)
pinch salt
4 tablespoons of add-ins, such as peanuts, dried cranberries, dried cherries. (I used 2 T of cranberries/2T of peanuts)
Additional jam (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. Put all of the ingredients except for the add-ins into a food processor and pulse until all of items are combined and can form a ball when pressed together.
2. Putting in the add-ins, pulse only untilcombined. You want those items to still be chunky.
3. Roll into 12 balls. I use a cookie scoop to evenly portion them. Optional: if you want your balls to have a more jammy flavour, put a bit of jam in the middle of each ball as you roll them. This will give a little surprise to the energy balls and add a burst of flavour.