Almond Butter Banana Protein Balls

This recipe is a variant of the Peanut Butter Protein Ball recipe. I have found with this that although the Almond Butter appears to be more liquid and more oily, it still needs additional milk these become very dry - in fact this recipe needs more additional fluids than the Peanut Butter Protein Ball recipe despite using less of the butter!

Almond Butter Banana Protein Balls

Ingredients (makes 12)
175g Almond Butter
75g Banana flavoured Diet Whey Protein Powder (or your choice of protein powder & flavour - non diet ones will increase the amount of carbs)
100ml Semi-Skimmed Milk

Method
Before using the Almond Butter make sure that you stir it well in it's bottle as there is often a lot of oil separation and you can end up with some very dry Almond Butter at the bottom of the jar.

Place the Almond Butter in a bowl and add the protein powder. Using a spoon mix together thoroughly until the mixture creates large clumps, a little like making a dough. Gradually add the milk, mixing thoroughly until the mixture starts to come together in one solid, yet smooth, dough. Don't be fooled by the oily, runny, texture of the Almond Butter and leave out the fluids or your protein balls will have a dry texture inside and will be hard to eat, trust me this is the voice of experience! This Butter appears to be more fluid than Peanut Butter but is actually much, much, dryer.

Using your hands gently kneed the dough and ensure that there are no stray pieces in the bowl. Gently break the dough into 12 roughly equal sized pieced and roll between your hands to make small balls. If you want to, you can then coat these with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, drinking chocolate powder, or anything else that takes your fancy. Place in an airtight container and put in the fridge for half an hour. You can split the balls into two containers and freeze one if you wish.

Eat as a replacement for a sweet snack or an hour before a workout to give you a protein & fat boost. I chose to use Banana flavoured protein powder as I felt that Banana and Almond would work well as combined flavours, but you can use whatever flavour you feel will complement the Almonds.

I have noticed with these protein balls that there is a little oil separation once they have been chilled. This seems to be normal with anything to do with Almond Butter, so don't worry. You can mop up a bit of the oil when picking one of the balls out of your container, but so far mine haven't been dry because of this.

Nutritional Information - per protein ball

Fat: 8.7g (0.7g Saturated)
Carbs: 2.1g (Fibre: 0.3g; Net Carbs: 1.8g)
Protein: 7.6g

Calories: 118