Spiriteds, what is this season even? One minute it’s 90 degrees and sunny, and the next minute it’s 62 degrees and cloudy. Twinkle and I can’t even deal. “I not wearing pants now! I only just going to wear my legs!” This is what preschool honesty looks like. And basically she’s only saying what I also happen to be thinking. I love me some summer, and I love me some fall. But, wow, this “summerfall” season is hard to predict! What should I even be wearing? Pants or legs? What should I drink? Corona with lime or creamer with coffee? Both are fair questions. Fortunately, these Gluten-Free Almond Butter Oatmeal Bites bridge the seasons. They are ready for crisp mornings, hot days, and chilly, yet humid, evenings.
Speaking of Corona, while in grad school, we frequented a rank and file bar just across the street from the city development center where our classes were held. This bar. I could describe it to you, or I could just tell you this: they served Corona IN A CAN, and if you asked for a lime, they popped the top and shoved it right in. It felt like the most perfect delivery method for a college student EVER. Bottles are a little high brow, even if you’re a working adult student decked out in your corporate suit. Those were the days, and that bar was where we celebrated a finished major presentation/paper, final, or semester. The professors actually bar-hopped with us when we completed the core program and headed in our various specialized directions to complete our respective programs. It was a tradition. ❤️😂❤️
While I wouldn’t pair Gluten-Free Almond Butter Oatmeal Bites with Corona (can or high-brow bottle), I WOULD pair them with creamer and hot coffee. I’d also eat them for breakfast because I LOVE eating protein in the morning. I feel less snacky during the day when I eat a full-on breakfast. But I would also eat them as a treat, as a dessert, because it’s a day of the week ending in “day,” or because it’s 5:00 somewhere.
These delicious dairy-free, vegan-friendly snack bites are the bees knees. And then I went over the top and rolled them in raw sugar, and that was the end of my life as I knew it. I thought the end of my life as I knew was when that whole Corona-in-a-can-thing happened. Or when I had children. But, nope, it was when I rolled these babies in raw sugar. I looked at them, glistening in all their raw sugary goodness, and I thought, “These look magical. Like, winter wonderland amazing with glittery snow and probably some faeries,” spelled with an extra ‘e,’ of course. I looked it up, and it’s a totally legit spelling for this occasion.
You don’t have to do this, of course, but if you would like a little crunch to go with your bite, then this is THE solution. The crunch will not disappoint and neither will the presentation. They seriously glisten.
So, these no-bake Oatmeal Almond Butter Bites are everything magical, winter wonderland awesome, but still totally fall appropriate, and FOUR OUT OF FOUR family members in our house LOVE these. We actually, um, well, we have to divvy them out to everyone so no one gets the short end of the stick or shafted a bite. This is how our family does living, Spiriteds. It’s our best selves.
And we plan to enjoy these for fall, well into Thanksgiving, and clearly for Christmas because the sugar looks like a delicate snowfall. Naturally, we’ll follow this up by chowing down on them through January, which basically takes us to spring, which is essentially summer. And then we’re back into fall again. So, K-Hubs, the kids, and I really have no plans for stopping, except to double or triple the batches (especially for days on the go when almond butter and oatmeal are the perfect filling treat to keep us full). And I’m not the least bit sorry about this. Gluten-Free Almond Butter Oatmeal Bites are our new year-round treat of choice because they are just that good.
- ½ cup almond butter
- 1 cup gluten-free old-fashioned rolled oats (I like Bob's Red Mill)
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- 4 dates, pitted and chopped
- 2 tablespoons 100% pure honey or agave nectar (vegan)
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
- raw sugar for coating, optional
- Mix almond butter, coconut oil, dates, honey or agave nectar, and sea salt with an electric mixer on high speed until blended. Stir in oatmeal.
- Chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or until mixture is firm enough to roll into balls.
- Roll mixture into approximately ½ inch balls and coat in raw sugar, if desired. Store in airtight container for up to one week.
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