Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bites

These dark chocolate peanut butter granola bites were glorious and they came at such a perfect time.  Annie's Eats posted them at the end of August and suggested that they would be good to put into lunch boxes.  She was right.  They were a great back-to-school idea.  Now that we have been back to school for two (really long) months, however, don't think that it's too late to try these little guys out.  They may be excellent to bring with you to work or school, but they were also a pretty great on-the-go breakfast (yes, you can eat these for breakfast, because even though they have chocolate and peanut butter, they also have roasted almonds and oats!  Totally acceptable breakfast food).  And, let's be honest: they were good to eat at any time of day.  Which I did.  Until they were gone.

A few notes about the ingredients: you should toast your almonds if they're raw, and you can also toast your coconut if you want them to be more coconutty.  Lots of toasting went on here.  It was all worth it for sweet, salty, crunchy, soft granola bites!

Recipe:

dark chocolate peanut butter granola bites
from Annie's Eats
yields about 24 - 30 granola bites

Ingredients:
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
1 cup roasted almonds
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

Instructions:

1) Place the oats in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until ground into small pieces.  Add in the coconut and almonds and continue to pulse until finely ground.  Transfer to a medium mixing bowl.

2) In a medium saucepan, combine the peanut butter, honey, coconut oil, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips.  Heat over medium heat until the mixture is smooth and the chocolate chips are completely melted.  Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and salt.  Pour the mixture into the bowl with the oat mixture and stir together until well incorporated.

3) Scoop the mixture into 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoon dollops onto a baking sheet.  Let sit for a few minutes until slightly more firm and then roll into balls.  Once balls are formed, chill in the refrigerator until firmly set, about 1 - 2 hours.