Pumpkin Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Energy Balls

Happy first week of October! I get giddy in the fall… I love THE LEAVES (which I frequently squeal about, causing Nathan to almost wreck the car 😂) and the flavors, especially pumpkin! So I am taking a one-month pumpkin challenge. I am going to post a pumpkin recipe every week during the month of October. And don’t think they’ll all be desserts. I’m working on some recipes for pumpkin soup and a pumpkin chili! Let me know in the comments if there’s any other pumpkin recipe you’d like me to work on.

Now let’s get to the recipe…

When I was a kid my mom always had a container of peanut butter balls in the fridge. Remember those? With the graham crackers crumbs and honey? If you don’t, then I’m sorry because they were seriously my favorite thing as a kid.

I decided to revamp that childhood favorite and add, of course, pumpkin. These energy bites are super easy to mix up, don’t require any baking, and they can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge up to 5 days.

Pumpkin is packed with nutrients, include Vitamin C, potassium, and iron. It also contains beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant that gives pumpkin it’s orange color and helps to promote heart health and prevent certain types of cancer. If you think pumpkin and peanut butter sounds like an odd combination, just trust me and try it. I love peanut butter and pumpkin toast sprinkled with pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon.

These energy balls provide a boost of protein thanks to the addition of peanut butter and nonfat dry milk powder, which also contributes bone-building calcium, and the oats provide fiber, a combination that will help satisfy hunger. Mix up a batch of these energy balls for afternoon snacking, or as a healthier alternative to Halloween candy and desserts. If you want to get really festive, you can leave the chocolate chips out of the mix and use them to create Jack-o-lantern faces on the balls and add a pretzel stick to the top to be the pumpkin stem.

5 from 4 votes

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Pumpkin Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Energy Balls

Servings 15 balls

Author Jessica Ivey, RDN

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder
• 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mixing until well blended.

2. Roll into 1 1/2- to 2-inch balls. 

3. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 5 days.

What’s your favorite way to enjoy pumpkin? Let me know in the comments!