What you eat before your workout is just as important as your post gym meal or shake. Not only is protein something to enjoy before you head out the door in your spunky gym outfit but you need slow release carbs to keep your energy levels up. There’s nothing worse that striking out halfway through that spin class, weights set or yoga session because you’re starving and your blood sugar is spiralling downhill.
These cookies are a great addition to the gym bag to snack on before you head out to get your sweat on. With a winning combo of low and instant-release carbs, muscle fuelling protein and some metabolism boosts you’ve got all your essential exercise protein cookie ingredients in your palm.
While there is some obvious ingredients (protein powder and egg – or chia/flax egg – for happy, strong muscles), there’s a lot more to these caramel-ly and addictive cookies. The carbohydrates in oats and buckwheat are a great pre-workout food to load up on for a longer and harder training session. They’ve both been shown to stabilise blood sugar and control insulin levels – helpful to balance out dates (mmm nature’s lollies) and honey which are sources of instant energy in the form of sugar.
Coconut oil is another source of instant muscle energy, the medium chain fatty acids are a great metabolism booster (as is cinnamon) and have been shown to help utilise other fats in the body as energy. This is a much healthier approach than the fad of using caffeine to fuel a workout, coconut oil doesn’t tax your adrenals or slow your recovery.
- 8 medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
- 1 cup whole rolled oats
- ¼ cup spelt flour
- ¼ cup protein powder of choice
- ½ cup buckwheat groats
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ cup coconut oil (or organic butter)
- 1 large egg, gently whisked (or 1 chia or flax egg)
- ¼ cup raw organic honey
- Preheat oven to 180C. Line two baking sheets with paper and put aside.
- In a medium bowl beat oil (or butter), egg and honey together until pale and creamy.
- In another bowl combine dates, oats, flour, protein powder, dates and cinnamon. Add the wet mixture to the oats mixture and mix until well combined. Place large, heaped spoonfuls onto the baking trays and flatten slightly with the spoon or your hand.
- Bake for 15 minutes until lightly golden and firm. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire tray to cool completely.
Comments 8
oh yum! these look great! I’ve discovered a new found love for buckwheat groats and I’m always up for cookies:))
Author
Thankyou 🙂 I love buckwheat groats, they’ve slowly ended up into at least one meal I have a day!
I haven’t had a workout in probably a decade or so (which is really saying something since I’ve only been around for 2 so far) but I would totally make these treats any time. Those steel-cut oats look like they add such excellent texture.
Author
Thanx Hannah, and luckily these cookies can also be enjoyed san-workout (like I did for *most* of the batch)! I think what you can see is the buckwheat in the cookies, but steel cut oats would be just as hearty as rolled 😀
What an awesome recipe, Ally! I bet these would be great for me right before my strength workouts — THANKS!
Author
My pleasure Kat, I’m also glad to report they are also as good sans workout too!
LOVE the cookies they are delicious , just made them and enjoying them with a calmer sutra chai with soy . Thanks for your awsome recipies also made the frozen protein balls they are yummy,
Author
My pleasure Andy, glad you loved the cookies and the protein balls and thanks for the comment! Mmmm those cookies and a Calmer Sutra Chai sound like a fantastic combo. I’m sitting drinking a cup of it myself right now while studying 😀