No-Bake Brownie Bites
Oat flour, cocoa, and butter rolled into balls at home. Dessert that survives three days in a pack.
- calories
- 210
- weight
- 1.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 140
- protein
- 3 g
- serves
- 12, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 10 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dessert
- Snack
- No cook
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Day hike
- Bikepacking
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Rolled oats | 1 1/2 cups | blended into flour |
|---|---|---|
| Granulated sugar | 1/2 cup | turbinado works |
| Cocoa powder | 1/3 cup | |
| Baking powder | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Butter | 6 tbsp | softened, not melted |
| Chocolate chips | 1/3 cup | mini chips distribute better |
Method
- At home, run the oats through a blender or food processor until they are flour. Some grit is fine.
- Add the sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Pulse to combine.
- Drop in the softened butter a bit at a time and pulse until the mix clumps when you squeeze it. If it stays sandy, add another tablespoon of butter.
- Stir in the chocolate chips by hand so they stay whole.
- Roll into 12 balls, about a tablespoon each. Chill 30 minutes so they firm up.
- Pack cooled. At camp, open the bag and eat. No stove, no water.
This is a home-prep dessert, not a camp one. Everything happens in a blender on your counter, and what you carry is finished food. The oats do double duty: blended to flour they bind the mix without any egg or baking, and they keep absorbing the butter as the balls sit, which is why a chill in the fridge turns a sandy crumb into something that holds a shape.
Butter is the binder and most of the calories. It is also the failure point in heat — above room temperature these go soft and greasy. Coconut oil or shortening has a higher effective firmness in a warm pack and swaps in one for one. There is no fresh dairy and no water, so they keep for about a week out of a cooler and much longer if you freeze them before the trip.
Packing
Chill the balls hard before they go in a bag, or they fuse into one block. A small rigid container beats a freezer bag if you care what they look like. Above 80°F the butter softens and they slump — still edible, just messier.
Variations
- Swap the butter for coconut oil or shortening to make them vegan and more heat-tolerant.
- Use certified gluten-free oats and the recipe is gluten-free as written.
- Roll the finished balls in cocoa powder so they do not stick to each other.
https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/no-bake-brownie-bites