Power Date Balls: Your Simple, High-Carb Snack
This recipe is super simple, calorie dense and keep well for a long time in the refrigerator or freezer.
The total Recipe is 660 calories. Each 330-calorie ball has 50 grams of carbs, 5.5 grams of protein, 5 grams of fat and 5.5 grams of fiber. Make combinations of either 2 x 330-calorie balls or 4 x 165-calorie balls.
Ingredients
- Use 15 dates (I used pitted regular dates, not the large medjool, which could be twice the size, so use only half.)
- 2 tablespoons of cocoa
- 2 tablespoons of unsweetened coconut
- 1/4 cup dried cherries (or blueberries, cranberries, etc.)
- 1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup
Instructions:
1. Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend until it turns into one big ball. This can take some time.
2. Depending on the moisture of your dates, you may need to add a water, but wait it out and let it blend for a minute or two. Eventually, it'll turn into one large mass in the processor and will stick to a wall. This is your cue that it's done.
3. If you add liquid, only add 1 teaspoon at a time if it doesn't stick together on the first try.
4. Usually this recipe works well as long as the dates are not the kind that you buy in the baking section. These are usually too dry and are packaged into a block.
5. Break into as many balls as you'd like by rolling between your palms. You can also leave the coconut out of the recipe and roll the balls in it instead, coating them in coconut.
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Mango Date and Oat Bars
These are tough to stop eating. They keep forever in the freezer so you can always have them ready once you make a few batches. They're calorie dense like the date balls, which is great when you're in a big block of training and doing lots of volume.
The recipe makes 10 x 304-calorie bars. The entire recipe is 3042 calories. Each 300-calorie bar has 39 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of protein, 15 grams of good fats from pumpkin seeds, almonds and coconut, and 4 grams of fiber.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup of dried mango, soaked for 1 hour and drained
- 1 cup Medjool dates, pitted
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla bean powder (or 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract)
- 1 1/4 cup of raw almonds
- 3/4 cup of shredded coconut
- 3/4 cup of rolled oats
- 3/4 cup of raisins
- 1/3 cup of pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 teaspoons of sea salt
More: Make Your Own Homemade Energy Gel
Instructions:
1. In a food processor, combine the mango, dates and vanilla. Make sure to soak the mango.
2. Process into a very smooth paste. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse until everything is well combined. Make sure some of the texture in the nuts and seed is retained.
3. Press the mixture into an 8 x 8 square or 8 x 11 rectangle (depending on the thickness you want) on parchment paper.
4. Place the bars in the freezer to firm, then cut into squares. These bars will keep for over four weeks in the freezer, but you'll probably eat them much sooner than that. They really are too hard to resist!
More: What Pro Cyclists Eat for Success
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