How to make my "energy bites" hold together better (without peanut butter)?

My "energy bites" crumble a bit too easily. Here's my recipe right now, tell me what I need to add/subtract:

(All quantities rather loosely eyeballed)

- 1/2 cup of oats
- 1/3 cup "dessicated shredded coconut"
- a handful of unsalted roasted almonds

The above ingredients are run through my food processor one at a time until finely processed, each one added to a large bowl along with:

- 1/4 cup chia seeds
- a few tablespoons of natural almond butter
- 1 small bar of 85% dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 8-10 medjool dates, depitted and run through the food processor until they lump together into one giant ball

All of this gets mixed together thoroughly with a spoon, folding loose stuff into the center and then formed into balls or cakes or turd shapes or whatever. But it's hard to form them because it falls apart super easy unless I add a lot of honey. With the honey it works better but I want something with less sugar/sweetness.

I tried subbing in tahini, which I'd have loved even more, but that made it even crumblier. I don't want to add peanut butter, because I like peanut butter but I find the flavor overpowering.

What else could I try?

Maybe hydrate the chia to form a gel?
Chia gel is a great binder in food, often as a substitute for eggs.

I add water to the dates just a little and that seems to help. Adding one orange section sometimes.

A couple of ideas:
After the dates are partially processed, add everything else back into the food processor and process it together (which is what I would do for my bar recipe that uses many similar ingredients.

Consider heating the chocolate instead of leaving it as small chunks so it acts as a binder.

Consider doubling the amount of almond butter. (but that might make it too sticky?)

William Bronson wrote: Maybe hydrate the chia to form a gel?
Chia gel is a great binder in food, often as a substitute for eggs.

Say more, please! How does one hydrate chia seeds?

Ned Harr wrote:

William Bronson wrote: Maybe hydrate the chia to form a gel?
Chia gel is a great binder in food, often as a substitute for eggs.

Say more, please! How does one hydrate chia seeds?

I would just add a little liquid and let sit 5 or so minutes. Works with ground flax also, Google chia or flax egg substitute.

To follow up:

I started adding a few tablespoons of water to the dates, and then a few more to the whole bowl just before mixing, and that did the trick. They hold together perfectly now, even if I don't use almond butter.

Oh, and I now use 100% baker's chocolate instead of the 85% dark, so these are really pretty much free of added sugar.

You can also try adding dried figs to your mix, they're sticky and munchy as well.
Good luck!

Flax and chia are nice solutions as suggested.

Could you use peanut powder, or nut powder of your choice?

Nina Surya wrote:You can also try adding dried figs to your mix, they're sticky and munchy as well.
Good luck!

Yeah, figs would work well, only they are terribly expensive at least where I live. One day I hope to grow them myself, but then I would surely eat them raw; no way I could resist raw figs long enough to dry them.

William Wallace wrote:Could you use peanut powder, or nut powder of your choice?

As I said above, I like peanuts by themselves but find their flavor too overpowering to be an ingredient in anything else. As for other nuts, I already use almonds and walnuts a lot of the time. This week I had cashews so I used those.

I don't usually have powdered versions of these and I'm not sure of the cost differences (I suspect they are pricey?), but I run them through the food processor pretty thoroughly, sometimes even prechopping them, so just buying the whole nuts isn't an issue.