Recipe: Collagen Cookie Dough Protein Balls (gluten free!)

Getting in extra protein has never been so delicious! These Collagen Cookie Dough Protein Balls are gluten free, no bake, refined sugar free, clean eating friendly and seriously delicious! The perfect healthy snack or dessert.

With only a week until our babe arrives, I have been prepping all the meals and snacks so that when we get home from the hospital, we have plenty of food ready to eat. 

One of those things I've been prepping has been protein balls. 

Call them bliss balls or protein balls or whatever you fancy, they're one of my go-to snacks because they're quick, easy and you can pack them full of nutrients.

When Naked Nutrition sent me their Collagen Peptides Protein Powder, I knew exactly what I needed to make.

These Collagen Cookie Dough Protein Balls are so easy to make, seriously delicious to eat and each little bite has 4 grams of protein to power you through your day. 

Better still? You can totally make them your own. 

Swap the cashews for almonds or peanuts. Swap the flaxseed for chia seed or hemp seeds. Swap chocolate chips for cacao nibs or bits of your favourite candy bar - there's so much you can do with them!

So let me share the recipe with you! >>

Recipe: No Bake Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls (Gluten Free & Vegan)

Sometimes you just need a recipe that’s SUPER simple, and that’s exactly what this recipe is.

With just three ingredients, it’s a recipe that never fails and can be made in minutes. Whilst they’re very much like cookie dough at room temperature, they also firm up perfect in the fridge for a delicious energy ball - how you eat them is up to you!

If you can’t have peanut butter, worry not! The peanut butter can easily be substituted for almond butter, sunflower seed butter, cashew butter or whatever you fancy.

If you want a little something extra, add some chocolate chips - because chocolate chips are never a bad idea! 😜🍫💗

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: No Bake Cinnamon Raisin Cookie Dough Bites (Gluten Free & Vegan)

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Remember how I told you we always have a container of homemade bliss balls in the fridge? (back here)

Well, I get bored of things fast so every batch of bliss balls is a new flavour - but lately this one seems to be made on repeat. 

I love cinnamon. Like... I have to buy the giant container of cinnamon from Costco kinda love. This raw bite recipe has just the right amount of cinnamon and a whole lot of chewy, cookie dough like goodness - meaning it's pretty much the perfect snack!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are one of those baked goods I feel are always overlooked.

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They don't have chocolate - and oats and raisins are considered "healthy" items and people don't exactly go looking for cookies when they're feeling like something healthy... do they?

But to me? They're one of the best cookie combinations. That almost nutty like flavour of the oatmeal, paired with chewy raisins? Heaven. 

These Cinnamon Raisin Cookie Dough Raw Balls are currently my favourite because they have all the things I love about an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie - with only half the work.

There's no baking, waiting for dough to chill, messing about with creaming butter and sugar - all you have to do is throw the ingredients in a food processor, process and you're good to go.

And let's not forget they're healthy too! These raw bites are also vegan, sugar free and freezer friendly too - making them the perfect meal prep recipe!

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Blueberry Smoothie Protein Bites (Gluten Free & Vegan)

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Ever since we got our new fridge, I've realised I've created a new habit... 

On the top shelf on the right hand side, you will almost always find a container of homemade bliss balls. 

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They're the perfect on the go snack as they're bite sized and protein packed - but really, we keep on making them just because they're delicious. 

If Jesse gets home and doesn't see some kind of new baked treat on the counter top, he'll head straight to the top right of the fridge to grab a protein ball - particularly if it's this No Bake Cookie Dough Protein Balls Recipe (his all time favourite). 

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Lately, however, there's a new favourite in town! Originally I planned on making blueberry muffin bites, however, I decided mid way through to make a portable version of a blueberry protein smoothie and oooooooh mama was it a good idea!

These Blueberry Smoothie Protein Balls are all sorts of delicious - and so simple to make!

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Easy No Bake Cookie Dough Protein Bites

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You know what I've realised lately? 

My husband comes home from work every day and immediately looks around the kitchen to see if I've been baking or cooking something. 

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Yesterday, Jesse came home from work to find a batch of blueberry muffins on top of the stove from a sort of failed recipe test. I said "oh, you won't like them" and he thought I was lying to fake him out of trying them because they were actually delicious and I didn't want to share so he ate one (and loved it - I was wrong!).

But as he went to the fridge to get some water, he spotted these cookie dough bites. 

OOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH

What are theseeeee?!?! 

Before I knew it, he'd popped open the container and had grabbed one for himself. 

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With a mouthful of food, he looked at me with wide eyes. 

WHY HAVE YOU BEEN HOLDING OUT ON ME?!

These are SO good!

They're mine... alll mineeee!

Then I realised why I usually hide these cookie dough protein balls 😝

So since I have to share them with my husband (and they were such a huge hit!), I thought I'd share them with you too!

So let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Caramel Latte Protein Bites (Grain Free & Vegan)

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These protein bites are what I liked to call a happy accident. 

You see, I was fumbling around the kitchen on a lazy Saturday afternoon when I decided I needed to create a recipe that used both my GIANT Costco sized jar of Almond Butter and my new coffee blend and since I just finished up a sweaty zumba class, it may as well pack a protein punch too. 

So I got out my food processor, grabbed my protein powder, almond butter and coffee and decided that I was going to make protein bites. 

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Add a little coconut flour, some almond meal to make sure they weren't too dry and crumbly and some maple syrup to sweeten things up and bind it all together and heyyyyyy mama, you've got protein bites. 

Before I exerted any more energy rolling them, I had to make sure they were worth it though - so I pinched together some of the dough and popped it in my mouth. 

Chew... 

Savour... 

Caramel latte. 

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With just the right amount of coffee flavour, the caramel like taste of the maple syrup and the creaminess of the whey protein powder (though there's a vegan option below that's just as good!), these little bites tasted very much like a caramel latte - only in a portable, no-risk, ball shaped package. 

No risk because we live in a world where coffee cups contain "Warning! Hot!" labels and these are definitely not hot.... though they probably need a "Warning! Addictive!" label. 

I'm pretty sure I ate half the batch in a day, making a double batch the next day to store in the fridge in my favourite Babushka Doll container.

But let me share the recipe with you! >> 

Recipe: Mint Chocolate Chip Protein Bites (with Matcha Powder!)

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! >>