Vegan Fig Newton Energy Balls

Published January 30, 2019

As I mentioned in my last recipe post, I’m trying to eat and cook meals with real ingredients.

Since I’m not a fan of breakfast foods, I normally eat leftover dinner for breakfast. This year, since I go to the gym in the mornings, I find that I need to eat something on-the-go with my morning commute.

While hard-boiled eggs and granola bars are sufficient options, I wanted to try a recipe that was healthy yet different from my everyday options.

Every Last Bite’s Recipe (@everylastbite_)

The recipe I made this week is from Carmen of Every Last Bite. Carmen’s blog focuses on vegan/paleo/gluten free recipes because of her health.

Since I haven’t cooked many vegan recipes, I decided to follow her expertise when it comes to making these healthy, raw energy balls.

Ingredients You’ll Need

For those of us home-cooks new to cooking vegan/raw treats, this ingredient list is pretty short. I was surprised about the nut and fruit prices. A small bag of pecans for $15?!

I decided to use the leftover walnuts from my snowball cookies and remove the pecans from the recipe.

In total, it was $25 just for these few ingredients. In my world, that’s a lot of money for 15 energy balls.

But, as I’ve said before, you-do-you — this was a morning treat for me, so I spent the money. Long-term, I don’t think I would make these a part of my everyday breakfast routine (unless I bought the ingredients in bulk).

Vegan Fig Newton Energy Ball Instructions

As long as you have a food processor or blender, this recipe is straightforward. Essentially you add everything to the processor, blend it together, and form it into balls.

The part of the recipe that could have some error is toasting the walnuts. You can toast the walnuts in the oven or in a pan on the stove. I prefer the stove so I toasted them on medium-heat, stirring constantly so they turn golden but not burnt.

The Final Product

The vegan fig newton energy balls were so easy to put together. At first I was worried that the textures of the dried fruit weren’t going to puree/blend in my food processor, but they did. Some pieces of the fruit didn’t blend all the way, which was fine for me.

The Texture

I folded the chopped walnuts into my blended fruit. You can use your food processor to incorporate the nuts into a finer texture. I didn’t mind having some chewy fruit pieces and crunchy walnuts. I think it adds to the overall snack.

The Flavor

Since figs are the main fruit in this recipe, the final fig newton energy balls really did remind me of classic fig newton bars.

I also tested adding some coconut flakes to this recipe. It wasn’t a necessary addition, as the honey and vanilla make the energy balls sweet enough.

Storage

As Carmen recommends, I kept the energy balls in a sealed container in my fridge. I have grabbed two in the morning for my drive to work and they have held their texture and flavor over the course of the week. If you make an extra large batch, you could test freezing and defrosting them and see how that works.

Overall, I think Carmen’s recipe has great flavors and textures. The sweetness from the fruits tricks you into thinking its a dessert-style treat, when really you’re getting small snacks of energy filled with real ingredients!

K. Martinelli Makes Vegan Fig Newton Energy Balls

Thanks for Watching

Have you made energy balls before? Do you have a favorite recipe or list of ingredients? Comment below with your suggestions or check out my other recipe videos.