How can you get a pumpkin spice fix without feeling majorly guilty afterward? Pumpkin Spice Protein Bites,that’s how.
I love to make protein bites! The recipe is super customizable. I like them covered with chocolate, filled with granola goodness, or with pumpkin. These have protein from almond butter, pumpkin, fall spices, and not too much sugar. So you can feel pretty good about eating them. You could ALSO add chocolate chips and feel less good. PUMPKIN AND CHOCOLATE.
Okay, back to mostly healthy Pumpkin Spice Protein Bites. 
The recipe here is what I used, but the basics are this: you need to get the mixture sticky enough to hold the shape. I think these could be a tad sweeter: they were tasty, but more on the healthy side. A little more sugar or mini chocolate chips would go a long way. But again, it depends if you want to stay healthier…or not so much.
So you can go right with these measurements, eyeball, or try your own. The important part is taste (duh) and making sure the things hold together well. I refrigerated mine just after making them and that helps. Definitely store them in the fridge, but you can eat them right away, too.
- 1/2 cup pumpkin
- 1 to 1 & 1/2 cups oats
- 1/4 cup almond butter
- 2 T Imperial Light Brown Sugar
- 2 tsp honey
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- Mix all ingredients together, adding more oats if too soft and more honey if they are not sticking together enough. Roll into balls. Refrigerate for at least one hour before eating. Store in air-tight container in the fridge.
- *You could use peanut butter, but almond butter has a little bit of a sweeter taste.
- *If you want to be a little more indulgent, add mini chocolate chips.
Let’s celebrate all things pumpkin! This is my favorite thing about fall! Especially now that I’m in Texas and the only real fall leaves happen for one intense week in December. I DO miss real fall in Virginia. But not enough to want winter. [shudder]
Still, I think of Virginia in the fall when we go to a pumpkin patch and I’m sweating through my clothes and worrying about sunburn. I think of Ashland Berry Farm and the smell of bonfires and that crisp edge to the air and the sound of leaves crunching underfoot. Oh, fall. I DO love you.
I can’t have true fall season, but I can still celebrate pumpkin right? RIGHT. These No Bake Pumpkin Spice Protein Bites are fabulous because they are filling, give that sweet feel, but aren’t quite as deadly for you as my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake. Or my Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake. MERCY.
Want to hear more of me talking about pumpkin and my secret theory that it’s not actually PUMPKIN that we like? Listen to this episode of The Kiki Show.
This is the first post in partnership with Imperial Sugar, a local sugar brand that I have been using for years and so excited to be working with on the blog! The recipes and thoughts in these posts are my own, and I am thankful to Imperial for sponsoring my ingredients in these posts!