SKIER’S SNACKS
Every year around my husband and I’s birthdays we like to celebrate on the slopes in the snow. That feeling of the wind in my face, gliding on top of a million snowflakes, is just magical! Let me pause for a minute to thank those lovely Scandinavian folks who first had the bright idea to strap pieces of wood to their feet! You guys rock! As an added bonus to the extreme fun we have skiing, is the extreme workout we get while doing it. Skiing is an all around perfect “exercise-cation” for us. That being said, we can work up quite an appetite while we are shredding it out on the mountain, so I came up convenient snack to throw in our pockets.
They have also become a favorite snack for my son with our outdoor activities here in Miami. We have packed them on picnics and hikes as well, so don’t let the name fool ya! They are an all around good, on-the-go, kid friendly snack that is easy to make.
SKIER’S SNACK
You will need these ingredients:
- 2/3 cup organic almond butter
- ¼ cup organic maple syrup
- 1 cup organic hemp seeds
- 1 cup organic sunflower seeds
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- ¼ cup organic shredded coconut
Directions:
- On low heat melt almond butter, vanilla and maple syrup together. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the pot to combine the maple and stir frequently not to burn.
- Stir in seeds until all of them are coated with the almond butter mixture.
- Form into balls and roll in coconut flakes.
Makes 22 balls.
Step by step:
The almond butter is what will bind these snacks together and we will need to slightly heat the almond butter so that it is easy to stir. Let me add, that I like to use an almond butter that only contains organic almonds, raw preferably, but it is more expensive. Keep your heat on low so that the almond butter will heat up slowly and not burn on the bottom of the pan. Depending on your sweetness preference you can add or subtract the quantity of maple syrup. You will want to slowly stir in the maple syrup and vanilla into the almond butter until it is smooth, creamy, and easier to stir.
At this point you can take the pot off of the heat and stir in the hemp seeds and sunflower seeds.
Put this mixture in a bowl so that it will begin to cool.
Take about a tablespoon of the mixture and roll it into a ball. Place it on a cookie sheet and keep repeating until all of your dough has been made into balls.
If your hands get too sticky to roll the dough into balls, then rinse hands in between or slightly coat your hands with coconut oil or water. Once you have your balls, sprinkle a bit of the shredded coconut on another cookie sheet and roll the ball into the coconut and reshape the ball with your hands so that the coconut is impregnated into the dough.
Pop your cookie sheet into the fridge for at least an hour so that the balls harden. I keep my skier’s snacks in the fridge for a longer shelf life. Tip: If you are in the cold in Colorado, these snacks will have no problem sticking together. If you are in a blazing hot summer in Miami, take an insulated snack bag with you or you will have a melted mess.
Tip: As a rule of thumb, the least amount of ingredients in your food, usually means a higher quality food product. So almond butters that have 5 plus ingredients are inferior to ones that only have 1 ingredient, almonds.
Gnarly dude,
Corrie
