I made you brown balls today.
Yea… I feel bad.
Yea… you totally deserve better.
The summer is alive with color and gorgeous produce and I bring you brown balls? I’ve got some nerve.
In other news:
I’m looking for a place to live by the beach… turns out that it’s exhausting.
I’m currently eating popcorn for at least two meals a day.
I’m house sitting a dog that begs and farts.
Lastly, I spent a majority of this evening using two Sharpie markers, 18 pieces of white paper and a camera. It’s an art project to ask a boy out… because texting just seems too hard and awkward. Riiiight. Dang, I’m weird.
This is what happens when you stare at your barely stocked kitchen cupboards long enough…
Little brown balls of oats, cereal and dehydrated bananas glued together with maple syrup and peanut butter seems like a good idea after a solid 18 minutes of blank cupboard staring.
Uh….
Here’s what you should know about these little gems.
They’re hearty, made with raw oats and peanut butter (among other things)… if you want to use almond butter or sunflower butter you totally should.
I used maple syrup to bind the balls. Honey is also great!
Dehydrated banana slices (that I found at Trader Joe’s) are a little bit softer and tastier than banana chips. You can use either. You could also substitute dried cherries, cranberries or apricots.
Now… use an ice cream scoop with one of those revolving levers to portion these balls out. If you have trouble getting them to stick together, just help them along with clean, wet hands. They’ll harden and keep their shape in the fridge.
That’s it for the pro tips.
Now… brown balls.
No-Bake Peanut Butter Banana Granola Bites
adapted from Martha Stewart and my kitchen cupboards
makes 24 balls
1/3 cup maple syrup or honey
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup cold cereal like Rice Krispies (I used wheat and flax flakes)
1 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup dehydrated banana slices, or dried cherries or cranberries or apricots
In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir together the maple syrup or honey, peanut butter and butter. Heat until the butter is melted and the peanut butter is loosened.
Combine cereal, oats and dehydrated banana slices in a medium bowl. Pour the warm peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients and fold tom combine. Stir until all of the dry ingredients are moistened by the peanut butter mixture.
Using a small scoop, scoop mixture onto a wax paper lined baking sheet. Press balls together with clean and damp fingers if they break apart a bit. Place in the fridge for about 15 minutes to harden and set. Place balls in cupcake liners and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Evan @swEEts
I don’t know what has me intrigued more these brown balls or your art project for a boy!? awesome.
Candice
First of all, let me say, that dogs fart because of what they are eating. Obviously, this dog that you are sitting for needs a banana ball or something.
As you might remember, peanut butter is a thing of my distant past, Nutella is now my new best friend, so I , with the products/substitutions I can get here, will make these … Is it OK to use fresh bananas?
Good luck on the house hunt ..
Katy
Yum. Brown balls. Just like our dessert pizza today. As long as it tastes good, we’ll eat it. We’re lame like that. Little dessert vaccum cleaners. And, what about a diarama (man, how do you spell that) to ask a boy out? We love your creativity!
Lina
Since I’m such a loser, I’m gonna use Kashi’s 7 Grain Puff thingys for the cereal, and coconut butter for the peanut butter. Maybe I’ll try using dehydrated apples, too- beat that, sucka!
newlywed
Mmm! My mom used to make something a little like this for me as a kid. It was one of my favorite snacks. I hadn’t thought about that in forever! Definitely saving this one!
Rachel (Two Healthy Plates)
What’s not to love about these? Granola plus peanut butter?!? plus they are no-bake?!? Okay, I’ll make them!
Katie@Cozydelicious
I have a feeling that Martha ever called them brown balls. I’m sure they had a fancy name and pretty description once upon a time. But I love the no-bake idea right now – it’s SO hot here! Good luck house-hunting!
peachkins
I’m gonna do this one of this days…
The Peach Kitchen
peach and things
blowing peachkisses
kangli
cool! the guy must be a cutie for you to make so much effort. good luck! :)
Shauna
Weird, I just made peanut-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip granola bars the other day – why didn’t I think of making them into easy-to-serve balls?! Must try this.
If the boy doesn’t say yes, then I will need to fly out there and kick him in the shins for his stupidity. Seriously – art project dedication! Baking! Too-cute-for-school Target sandals!! What boy in his right mind could say no to that?? You’ve got this one in the bag, girl. :)
Nica
Lol… so there was a guy in highschool that stood me up on a date, and I kicked him in the shins the next day at school. I guess we think alike when it comes to dealing with stupid boys xD
And this look really really good. I’ll have to decide what else I’m going to put in them since we don’t have a Trader Joe’s here with those yummy bananas… :(
Wei-Wei
Don’t tell me you didn’t giggle at all while writing this post. :D
Wei-Wei
katie
They may not be that colourful but to me they still look delicious. Perfect things to snack on – rather easy to eat too many I imagine :)
Jessica
Hey, it’s not summer everywhere in the world, so you’re just giving everyone something to work with! It’s always a good time for granola, anyway.
Good luck with your art project! I’ve never been brave enough to ask out a boy. :\
Silvia
Look so summery and tasty… yesterday I tried your frozen cookie dough balls, a huge hit, thanks for the inspiration!
XXX