It's no secret, I love food. I love cooking it, I love eating it, I love learning about it and I absolutely love experimenting with it.
I'm the kind of person who gets excited over new products in the grocery store, scours the aisles of international food markets for mystery ingredients to play with and the kind of person who has a head filled with new recipe ideas.
These little love bites (I've decided that's what I'm calling my raw bites from now on because they're filled with love and deliciousness!) were one of those recipe ideas that came out even better than imagined.
Not only are they seriously delicious, they're jam packed full of health benefits thanks to a new ingredient I've been playing around with; matcha!
Our friends at Happy Matcha sent me some of their matcha powder to play around with and I fell in love! I've enjoyed matcha treats in the past and have bought quite a few different powders, however, I never found one I loved - until now.
In case you don't know, matcha is a type of green tea. Instead of brewing tea leaves like you'd see in regular ol' green tea bags, this tea is ground into a super fine, bright green powder - and it's been used for centuries in Japan as it has a reputation of being the highest quality green tea available.
As well as being delicious to drink, matcha is jam packed full of nutrients and is now recognised as one of the most powerful superfoods available on the market. It's high in antioxidants, boosts metabolism, and helps to increase concentration and focus - making it the perfect addition for my healthy little love bites.
Happy Matcha is a brand new company offering Australia's finest quality culinary grade matcha green tea - AND it's 100% organic so you're getting all of those health benefits without any added nasties!
But whilst these little bites are healthy, they were actually inspired by mint chocolate chip icecream - quite possibly my all time favourite ice-cream flavour. We're a little bit obsessed and have been keeping a batch in the fridge at all times for whenever we need a little sweet treat - but don't take my word for it!
Let me share the recipe so you can make them yourself! >>
Matcha Mint Chocolate Chip Protein Bites Recipe
gluten free, vegan, raw, grain free, paleo, sugar free, clean eating friendly
makes 14 bites
1 cup (90g) shredded coconut
1/2 cup (60g) unflavoured whey protein or your favourite protein**
2 tbsp maple syrup***
A few teaspoons of water, as needed
~1/4 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate (vegan if needed)
- In a food processor, process your cashews until they resemble a fine powder.
- Add in your coconut and process for around 3 minutes or until fine and your mix starts to look a little like nut butter (we call this "butterising" but I don't know if that's a known/technical term haha!). Scrape down the edges.
- Add in your protein, matcha powder, maple syrup and peppermint extract and process until combined.
- Add a little bit of water as needed to bring your mix together. Add it only 1/2 a teaspoon at a time, only adding just as much as needed to avoid the mix getting sticky. The consistency is right when you can pick up a handful of the mix and squish it together to form a ball (it will be crumbly before that).
- Add your chocolate chips/chocolate to the food processor and pulse for a few seconds to break them up and disperse them through the mix.
- Roll your protein bites by grabbing a heaped tablespoon of mix and pressing/rolling it into a ball shape with your hands (alternatively, you can make bars by compacting your mix into a small baking tin and then chill and slice your bars).
- Enjoy immediately, chill in the fridge (these will keep for 1-2 weeks) or freeze to enjoy later.
*Instead of cashews, you can use sunflower seeds for a nut free option or raw almonds if you don't have any cashews!
**If you don't have any protein powder or don't want these to be high protein, don't worry! Simply use an extra 1/2 cup of cashews or sunflower seeds/almonds!
***If you like your treats on the sweeter side, use 3 tbsp maple syrup
But tell me, have you ever tried Matcha?
Are you a food fan like me? What's the last ingredient/recipe/creation you got really excited about?
Be sure to like Happy Matcha on Facebook or follow Happy Matcha on Instagram and share some SIL love! <3
This recipe is brought to you by our friends at Happy Matcha. As with all of our posts, everything you read above is all our own opinion and has not been influenced by the company in any way. Thank you for being awesome and reading this post (and all our posts!) and supporting our blog! xo
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