This is my second time making the Weelicious rice crispy balls, granola ball bites, whatever you call ’em.
After watching her adorable videos 1 and 2, I ran out to the store to buy brown rice cereal, but I spaced out and bought puffed rice instead of crispy rice. The recipe still works with puffed rice, but the texture is not as, well, crisp, without the crispy rice cereal.
I had a jar of brown rice syrup sitting in my pantry for over 2 years and never knew what to do with it until I saw these recipes. Brown rice syrup is slightly less sweet than regular sugar, and it’s great for n0-bake recipes like this because the syrup is so sticky it acts like glue. When melted together with nut butter, I wanted to lick the hot pot it smelled so good.
Add-ins are endless, but I love the combo of some dried fruit and chocolate chips. How could you not?
Balls (insert dirty joke) are indeed cuter and more fun to eat than bars. Sometimes I will just eat one after lunch to satisfy that post-meal sweet craving. Other times I pack 3-4 with me and enjoy them for a mid-day snack. Up to you.
The recipe makes about 25-30 balls (depending how much you eat in the process!). I stored about half of the bites in the fridge because they are a little crispier when cold, and I froze the other half batch for later.
A Random Assortment: Granola Balls, PS4 Controller, Mattress, Bikes
The Weelicious Chewy Granola Balls
adapted from Weelicious
makes about 30 balls
1/2 cup nut and/or seed butter (I used a combo of sunbutter and cashew butter)
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1 1/2 cups crispy brown rice cereal (I didn’t have any, so I used puffed rice…works fine but crispy would be better for texture)
1 cup granola (any kind you have, but I used Hot Bread Kitchen Granola)
1/4 cup dried fruit (i.e. cranberries, raisins, blueberries, chopped apricots…) and/or chocolate chips
1. Place the nut/seed butter and brown rice syrup in a small saucepan over low to medium heat and warm for 2 minutes or until it becomes smooth and combined.
2. Place the remaining ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.
3. Pour the warm nut/seed butter mixture into the bowl with the granola mixture and stir to combine.
4. Roll into 1 inch balls (you can use a mini ice cream scooper to scoop out each portion, or a tablespoon). Alternatively, you could press the mixture into a square pan, let cool, and slice into bars.
Happy snacking!
Figsinmybelly 