Peanut Butter Protein Balls

I've recently started making protein snacks to fill the gap when I get the munchies, without having to reach for cheese, nuts & tuna every time! My favourite snacks are Peanut Butter Protein balls, but experimenting with these has led me to a couple of variations: Peanut Butter Kiwi Protein Bars & Almond Butter Protein Balls.

Peanut Butter Protein Balls

Ingredients (makes 14)
250g Chunky Peanut Butter (preferably organic as it contains more protein, be careful not to buy low-fat varieties as they are loaded with sugars!)
100g Chocolate flavoured Diet Whey Protein Powder (or your choice of protein powder & flavour - non diet ones will increase the amount of carbs)
25ml Semi-Skimmed Milk (approx)
25ml Water (approx)

Note: You may need more, or less, fluids depending on the quality of your protein powder and how fatty & oily your peanut butter is. You are aiming to make a firm, slightly squishy, dough that has a smooth texture.

Method
Place the Peanut 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 & water, mixing thoroughly until the mixture starts to come together in one solid, yet smooth, dough. Please don't 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!

Using your hands gently kneed the dough and ensure that there are no stray pieces in the bowl. Gently break the dough into 14 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, chocolatey, snack or an hour before a workout to give you a protein & fat boost. For me these are great as the taste is chocolatey & peanuty and kills any cravings for my favourite chocolate bar: Snickers!

Nutritional Information - per protein ball

Fat: 9.52g (2g Saturated)
Carbs: 3g (Fibre: 1.8g; Net Carbs: 1.2g)
Protein: 10.91g

Calories: 146

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

Peanut Butter Kiwi Protein Bars

Having successfully made Peanut Butter Protein Balls, I decided to modify the recipe to make some protein bars to take with me on the 4 hour drive to London - taking one bar for the journey there and one for the journey back to stop me from snacking on high-sugar, high-carb, chocolate bars on the way and prevent sugar rushes.

Peanut Butter Kiwi Protein Bars

Ingredients (makes 5 bars)
250g Crunchy Peanut Butter (use organic if possible and avoid low fat versions as they are loaded with sugar)
75g Kiwi fruit, diced (you can substitute other fruit of your choice - raisins, banana, sultanas or a mixture)
25g Mixed nuts, chopped
100g Chocolate Diet Whey Protein Powder (or your choice of protein flavour & powder type - non diet ones will increase the amount of carbs)
50ml Semi-Skimmed Milk

Method
Place the Peanut Butter in a bowl and add the diced Kiwi fruit and chopped nuts. Using a spoon mix thoroughly and add the protein powder. 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.

Using your hands gently kneed the dough and ensure that there are no stray pieces in the bowl. Gently break the dough into 5 roughly equal sized pieced and shape into bars roughly the size & shape of a standard chocolate bar. If you want to, you can then coat these with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, drinking chocolate powder, or anything else that takes your fancy, don't be put off by the appearance of these bars! Wrap in greaseproof paper or foil and place in an airtight container and put in the fridge for half an hour.

These are a great replacement for a chocolate bar, and by weight are the equivalent to 1 3/4 standard Snickers bars but with roughly the same amount of fat, about 10% of the sugar, more fibre and 6 times more protein! Great for a more substantial snack, and fantastic for taking with you on long journeys.

Nutritional Information - per protein bar

Fat: 24.6g (6g Saturated)
Carbs: 10.4g (Fibre: 5.4g; Net Carbs: 5g)
Protein: 28.7g

Calories: 433