German Chocolate Cake Oatmeal Bites

I’m extra excited about this recipe. These little energy bites capture the flavors of my German Chocolate Oatmeal with a quarter of the hassle and an eighth of the pecans.

What you’ll need:

• 3/4 cup oats (old-fashioned or quick – I used BetterOats quick oats)
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon pecan pieces
• 2 tbsp shredded coconut (I used unsweetened)
• 4 pitted dats, diced into smaller pieces
• 3 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/4 cup Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter by PB&Co (or another chocolate nut butter)
• more coconut, for coating (optional)
• more pecans, crushed, for coating (optional)

How to make it:

1. Add ingredients except peanut butter to a food processor and process in short bursts several times.
2. Add half the peanut butter and repeat. (I had better luck when I didn’t add the peanut butter all at once, but this may differ based on your specific food processor.)
3. Add the rest of the peanut butter and repeat, processing in short bursts until mixture is combined and begins forming a sticky ball of “dough.”
4. Roll the balls so they are somewhere between 1-2 inches in diameter. If desired, you could roll these in more coconut and/or crushed pecans.
5. Store in the fridge. According to the recipe I adapted this from, it should be good for 5-7 days.

Just an FYI:

I love, love my German Chocolate Cake Baked Oatmeal and its sister pancake recipe, but I never, ever make them. Making that coconut-pecan butter, no matter how mind-boggling delicious it is, is a pain and a half.

You can’t make just a single-serving because no food processor can grind that few nuts down to a paste. You need quite a bit of pecans to fill the food processor, or it will just turn into dust and sit at the bottom of the machine while the blades whir uselessly above it. Every time I want to make it, I think about having to buy (and immediately go through) an entire bag of pecans (???) and a bunch of coconut, and the whole idea turns me off.

(And by the way, the original cake recipe has nothing to do with Germany; it was created by someone whose last name was German.)

For this recipe, I could have used pecan butter in place of the Dark Chocolate Dreams. However, pecan butter is so pricy. I figured it was easier for people to get their hands on chocolate nut butter than a tiny jar of pecan butter for $20. That being said, I think chocolate coconut butter would be a magical option, too (but I don’t have that).

As with all my “bites” recipes, the flavors get better once you let them sit in the fridge for a couple hours. Immediately after coming out of the food processor, it kind of just tastes like chocolate and oats. After you let it sit for a while, the sweetness and other flavors (like the coconut) become more pronounced. It’s magical. ✨

Oh. And by PURE COINCIDENCE–would you believe tomorrow (June 11) is National German Chocolate Cake Day in Los Estados Unidos? ??

Since these bites have become a “usual” for me now, I have added the tag “oatmeal bites” so you can easily browse these recipes.