One of my favorite things to whip up in the kitchen are protein bites, and my mind is ALWAYS churning trying to come up with new flavors. Whelp, with a little help from Ali Bonar at Kween Foods, I took my bite game to the next level with these Pumpkin Spice Granola Butter protein bites.
The texture of these is ON POINT, if I do say so myself, and obviously the best fall protein boost because #pumpkinspice.
I forget when I actually first started following Ali on Instagram, but she is consistently one of my FAVES for one simple reason. She’s as real as it gets. Often times, I think that’s a trait that’s hard to find on a social media platform like Instagram. Don’t get me wrong, I freakin’ love Insta just like everyone else, but there are times when some of the content I come across is just so damn fake. And that gets old. Fast. HOWEVER, Ali’s photos, captions and stories are always extremely genuine.
And that is so refreshing.
Not only is she #goals in the best way possible, but she also a #girlboss who is the co-founder of the liquid (teddy graham flavored) GOLD that is Granola butter. While she was in search of a healthy and delicious #nutfree spread and came to the realization there wasn’t anything on the market, she decided to create her own. And here we are.
SO, when I was asked by Next Phase to assist in the launch of their “Beat the Holidays” fitness challenge and provide their participants with some yummy protein bites, I wanted to make sure to include some nut free packages in there.

Packages each participant received.
While Sun Butter got the job done for some of them, pictured above, they just weren’t as good as the ones with peanut butter in them. So, I knew I had to step it up for another #nutfree flavah.s Enter: the granola butter. With no preservatives, refined sugars, or artificial flavors, this was right up my alley. Side note – you might want to swing on over to Amazon and order three jars while you’re at it.
OH, and here’s a pro-tip for ya.
I highly recommend keeping your jar of pumpkin spice granola butter in the fridge and eating it with a spoon (or your fingers #missfingerfoodie style). It basically turns to fudge and it pure magic.

Pumpkin Spice Granola butter protein bites
-
Prep Time: 15 minutes
-
Cook Time: N/A
-
Total Time: 15 minutes
-
Yield: 12-15 bites
Description
Have you tried Kween Foods Granola butter created by THE queen herself, Ali Bonar from @avokween? Well, if not, it’s basically the world’s FIRST spreadable granola and tastes like liquid Teddy Grahams. Sign. Me. Up.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup Pumpkin Spice Granola Butter
- 10 Trader Joe’s Medjool Dates, pit removed
- 2/3 cup Great Lakes collagen
- 1/4 cup Agave Nectar (honey or maple syrup could also work here)
- 1 Tsp. Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Pie seasoning
- An additional 1/4 cup Pumpkin Spice Granola Butter
- Optional – splash of vanilla extract
Instructions
Remove the pit from the Medjool dates, and soak them in hot water for 10 minutes to soften them up.
Use a Food Processor or high powered blender to pulse 1/3 of the Granola butter and the soaked dates until a paste-like dough forms.
Add the dough to a bowl and mix with the remaining ingredients. Then, use a scooper (or two spoons) to form into balls. I’m basically obsessed with my scooper, and use it for so many things including frosting cupcakes in NO TIME AT ALL, so if you don’t already have one, get one 🙂
Notes
- Depending how much water is left in the dates after you soak them, you might need to add more of the dry ingredient aka the collagen (or if you are not trying to keep these nut-free, using almond flour would do the trick as well).
- Adding some mini chocolate chips to this would take them to the next level FO SHO.
Keywords: protein bites; collagen balls; energy bites
And just for kicks, here are some photos of my favorite Beat the Holiday challenge participant who watched me demo how to make these protein bites. LOVE U SAMPSON <3
These look awesome! I always shy away from things like this because I don’t really like nut butters – wish I could get something like this in the UK!