My Love Affair With Herbs: Herbal Energy Balls

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Looking for a Valentine's Day treat without the refined sugar hangover? Look no further!!

These are extremely good-for-you with a sweet edge that helps kick that sweet tooth. I usually enjoy one in the morning with my cup of coffee or tea, then one again in the afternoon. This is my own recipe, but I’ve adapted it from a recipe in the book Herbal Apothecary. Next time, I will probably tweak it even more depending on what I feel like my or my family’s bodies need at that point in time. (For instance, I will probably add ashwagandha powder next time because I’ve recently learned that it offers support for your adrenals and thyroid.) If you don’t have all of these ingredients, feel free to alter it to your liking (or to what’s available in your cabinet). Just try to make sure your powders to binders to textures ratio is similar so you will end up with the right form. Just play with it.

Note: I prefer to buy most of my herbs in a dried, loose leaf form because it gives me more versatility with how I can use them. If the herbs for this recipe are not already in powder form, you can use an herb/spice blade grinder to grind them into a powder form.

Herbal Energy Balls
Makes 40-45 balls
2 c. nut butter
1 c. honey
¼ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp Himalayan sea salt
1 tbsp eleuthero powder or Siberian ginseng powder
1 tbsp nettle leaf powder
1 tbsp spirulina powder
1 tbsp cinnamon powder
1 tbsp bee pollen powder
1 tbsp maca powder (cream or yellow)
2 tbsp whey powder (unflavored)
2 tbsp cacao powder
3 tbsp flax meal
¼ c. sunflower kernels (You can use them whole if you want that texture, or grind them a bit for a finer texture.)
¼ c. chia seeds
½ c. cacao nibs or chocolate chips/chunks (Cacao nibs are the healthier option, and if you use chocolate chips, they won’t be refined sugar-free.)
1 c. shredded coconut
1 c. oats (Again, you can use them whole if you want that texture, or grind them a bit for a finer texture, or half of each.)

Combine the nut butter and honey until smooth and set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine all of the powders.

Then add the remaining ingredients.

Fold the herbal mix into the nut butter and honey mixture. Stir until well-combined.

If mixture is too thin to be rolled into balls at this point, you can chill it in the fridge for about 30 minutes or so. Otherwise, roll them into 1-inch balls, put them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and place them in the freezer to set for 30 min to an hour.

Store in an airtight container in the freezer. Enjoy one in the morning and one in the afternoon to get over that slump!
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Let me know if you try these and what combinations you use!