no bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookie bites- vegan and gluten free options

Aaaannnnd it's back to the regular routine!  The holidays were wonderful and I'm glad they're done.  This is one of those "both/and" situations that stuck with me from yoga teacher training.  I love the holidays AND I love when they're over and we get back to the structure of the regular routine. It can be both!

​The regular routine means back to school, back to lunch prep and an effort to make some healthier choices to balance out all of those holiday treats that we thoroughly enjoyed.  We go to a nut free school system because of the scary allergies that many kids have and this week's recipe is nut free, but you can modify if you like and swap in nut butter for the sun butter that I use.  This recipe comes together so fast, it's easy, it's refined sugar free and has both gluten free and vegan options so it can accommodate almost any dietary need in the house.  And if that wasn't enough to motivate you to give these a try, they taste like small oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with all clean ingredients. Ta-dah!!!!

​No Bake Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites (Vegan, Nut Free and Gluten Free Options)
(makes 12-14 cookie bites)
​
Ingredients
-12 dates pitted
​-3 TBS Maple Syrup
​-1 TBS Sunbutter Sun flower seed spread (sub in nut butter here if you prefer)
-1 1/2 cups oatmeal (sub in gluten free oatmeal for gluten free option)
​-1/4 cup chocolate chips (sub in vegan chocolate chips for vegan option)
- 3 TBS water

Directions
​Place the dates and oatmeal in a food processor and process until the two ingredients come together in a meal like texture.  Add the 3 TBS of maple syrup, 1 TBS of sunbutter and pulse until you see the ingredients begin to come together.  Slowly drizzle in the 3 TBS of water and continue to pulse until everything comes together and is hugging the side of the food processor bowl.  Dump the mixture out into a large bowl.  With clean hands, roll up your sleeves and mix the chocolate chips into the oatmeal mixture by hand.  Using your hands again, take a small amount of the mixture and roll into balls. Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and chill in the freezer for 30 minutes.  Store these in an airtight container in your fridge to grab and go!

​Stay warm this weekend my fellow New Englanders! 

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