Make My Day Camp: My Sister Tried It: No-Bake Protein Balls

Friday, May 12, 2023

My Sister Tried It: No-Bake Protein Balls

Well. This one was different. It started when I googled foods with high protein (because I read women “my age” especially should take in enough protein). Goodness. So as anyone with social media knows, once you google something it shows up in your feed over and over again. That then brought up an endless stream of food with protein. Among those I saw a lot that were variations of “protein balls” or “no bake oatmeal cookies” that said weirdly they could be consumed as breakfast food. Cookies for breakfast? I’m IN. (see my past post about banana oatmeal “cake” for breakfast- yum).

So the one I ended on was only 3 ingredients. EXCELLENT. Oatmeal, Peanut Butter and Syrup. If you wanted more protein you could add protein powder so I went for that as well. Lean Chocolate protein powder is what I added.

The texture was as you would imagine- crumbly. I get mixing and eventually it did get to where I could stick it together. The variations also said you could cook them to make more “cookie” like, so I decided to give that a try as well.

Oddly after cooking they looked exactly the same as when I put them in the oven- uncooked. Raw oats.

The Uncooked ball variation also was the same exact consistency after refrigerating for a half hour like the directions said.

So the flavor- let me be clear that I enjoy a gritty texture. Some people may not love that but I really do. As you can imagine they were VERY dry. The refrigerated one tasted like raw cookie dough- but not as sweet or as enjoyable. The cooked one seemed more just like a dry breakfast muffin. Which weirdly I liked with my coffee.

So, bottom line- if you don’t mind a dry texture (and have a drink handy) and are looking for a way to up your protein- while not actually having to cook anything, this might be for you! One more thing- another variation was chocolate chips. I tossed a handful in to a few of these and in the warm variety specifically it did make it MUCH better. Sweeter of course, and the melted chips made it less dry. That said, if I’m adding chocolate chips I’m probably not helping my quest for healthier eating and should just have a real cookie at that point. Lol.

Recipe-
2 Cups Quick Oats
1 Cup Peanut Butter (I used Low fat Jif)
1/3 cup Syrup (I used light Mrs. Buttersworth)
2 heaping tablespoons lean chocolate protein powder

Mix all together. Roll into balls and refrigerate for 20 minutes, or bake at 350' for 10 minutes.