This post is sponsored by General Mills
After making my homemade Cheerios-like toasted oats cereal a while back I pondered how to eat the precious O’s I cut by hand. I could splash some ice-cold milk on top of them and crunch away – they’d be gone in 5 minutes flat. Instead I decided to morph them into something a little more creative that would make my homemade efforts last longer. Thus, these snack balls were created.
fYou could follow this recipe and make your O’s at home first, or you could simply drive to any grocery store in America and pick up a box of Cheerios cereal. Whatever path you choose, these balls come together in 5 minutes. They are made with simple ingredients and are full of nurients, from healthy seeds, hearty oats, crunchy O’s and creamy coconut butter.
The coconut butter is the binder that keeps these balls together. You’ll want to make sure as you’re preparing the recipe your coconut butter is very soft – at room temp and possibly microwaved or heated in a pot of steamy water if you keep your AC very low or it’s winter time. But once the balls are formed, pop these babies in the refrigerator so the coconut butter binds them together.
Start with your O’s in a bowl and dust them with pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon or nothing!)
Add honey
And then all of your seeds and oats.
And then blob in the sunflower butter and coconut butter.
With slightly damp hands (to keep the mixture from sticking), form the ingredients into golf ball sized rounds.
They might not be perfect, but who cares!?
Put them in the fridge so they harden and store them cool. To enjoy, allow to thaw for 2-3 minutes.
Homemade Coconut O’s Snack Balls
Prep time: 5 minutes // Makes: 6 balls
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Toasted Oats Cereal or Cheerios™ cereal
- ¼ tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tbsp ground flax seeds
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
- 1 tbsp sunbutter
- 1 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp coconut butter, softened
- ¼ cup old fashioned oats
Directions
1. Start with your O’s in a bowl and dust them with pumpkin pie spice.
2. Add seeds, sunbutter, honey, coconut butter and oats and mix together well.
3. With slightly damp hands, form into balls.
4. Store balls in the fridge until hardened and store in fridge.
I made the recipe with regular Cheerios cereal too – it works just as well!
#Happysnacking
This post was sponsored by General Mills
jill says
I don’t think I have the patience to make my own toasted Os, but the end result looks yummy And your second graphic (the one with all the ingredients) is really lovely – nice work! 🙂
I have a question about flax seeds. (I know, I should just Google!) Should they be ground for maximum health benefits, or are they okay to eat as they are? I can’t tell from your pics if they are ground or not. We tend to grind ours and then freeze them, but my mother-in-law keeps hers whole, and neither of us is sure which is the correct way to do it. Thanks Kath!
KathEats says
They should be ground for maximum absorption and I used ground. Chia seeds do not though 🙂
Kaila @healthyhelperblog! says
This gives me even more reason to make your toasted oat cereal! That recipe looked awesome and this one has so many of my favorite ingredients….SUN BUTTER for one! So yum.
Lindsey @ SimplyLindsey says
Yum! Those look like a fun, delicious, and healthier alternative to granola bars.
Ali @ Peaches and Football says
Yum! I’ve made similar bites using oats before – but I haven’t used coconut oil and that sounds like it would be a great addition. My only problem is I tend to gobble them down way too fast – because they are so good!!
Katie @ Talk Less, Say More says
yum! I love little snack balls like these! They make snacking so fun!
Nicole says
Hi kath…I just wanted to make a suggestion piggy-backing on the comment I just submitted. Perhaps could you do sponsored post as additional posts as opposed to including them in your five posts? Is that a possibility for kerf? Again, this is just simple reader feedback, I think then their is balance and sponsored posts will be more like a bonus. Hopes this makes sense and thanks for listening!
KathEats says
I think this idea is a good one, but to be honest, I just don’t have the time to post as many times a day as I once did. Mazen takes up so much of my time, and creating a recipe or writing a post about nutrition takes more than the nap and preschool time I have to work. Some people like to laugh and think that blogs aren’t hard work, but they are and I’m serious when I say that I used to work nearly full time to get out 3 posts a day. I try my hardest to make sponsored posts have content that is useful and interesting – like the home neat home post with Boxed and this snack ball recipe that I’d like to make again soon. I hope that you get something out of them.
caitlin says
does the cereal stay crunchy? or does it get soft as the butters and honey are absorbed?
KathEats says
It’s pretty crunchy overall
caitlin says
thanks, i just really hate soggy cereal so that would drive me crazy if i made them and the cereal part was just mush!
Melissa says
that picture of the ingredients like that – LOVE it! 🙂
Alex says
This recipe looks so good. I’m not a huge fan of cereal, but I make try to adapt this to oats and see if this works the same. Flavor combos look great and coconut butter is my new favorite thing. Creamier than coconut oil and such a good addition to oats, smoothies, etc. can’t wait to try this.
Also, I saw a reader’s suggestion above regarding sponsored posts. While some of the sponsored posts topics may not be quite up my alley, I want to acknowledge the hard work that you do put into them. Writing quality, informative posts really does take time-especially when recipe testing. I absolutely agree that it can eventually equate to full time work, especially with all the social media.. I’m just started a blog as a hobby right now to share my thoughts and passions on healthy living while working my full-time job, and It is definitely work and time consuming. I wouldn’t give it up though because I am absolutely enjoying it! But would getting paid be a nice bonus for doing what I love eventually with the time I put into it? Absolutely. So a big thank you for all of the time and effort you put into each post.
KathEats says
Thank you so much. This means a lot to me.
Susan says
I agree so00 much with this comment because you have one of the best blogs out there as far as I’m concerned!! I like your photos, info, how you lay it out, interesting, clear to understand, etc. I don’t want to take the time to go to numerous blogs that are not “set up” very well compared to your blog! I really do appreciate all you do and you have a small child (husband, events, etc) to be with too. This is the best of both worlds. Awhile back you mentioned you were going to make changes and maybe not post often – well, you do post quit a bit and I’m happy and look forward to that!! You’ll never please everyone anyway, so ignore the negative. Happy Weekend!
Karen says
Ya know I’m thinking these would be friggin’ amazing using Trader Joe’s pumpkin O’s…..
Krissy says
Question – I am not a coconut lover. Does coconut butter have an overly coconut taste? Do you think you could you sub peanut or almond with similar results? These look like something I could get my toddler to eat that’s healthier than Oreos but I’d like to enjoy them too! 😉
KathEats says
It is quite coconutty (a pro for me and a con for you I suppose!) The coconut butter hardens the balls and that helps them stay together. I’m not sure the nut butter would have the same effect, but since peanut and almond butters do harden some in the fridge, it’s worth a try!