Celebrate National Eat a Cranberry Day today with these healthy and easy to make Cranberry Hemp Protein Bites made grain free and vegan!
It’s National Eat A Cranberry Day today! Not to be confused of course with National Cranberry Day (Nov. 21st) or National Cranberry Relish Day (Nov. 22nd). Not confusing at all 😉 You can celebrate Eat A Cranberry Day by eating a handful of cranberries (pucker up!) or by making these Cranberry Hemp Bites.
I am a big fan of dried cranberries for everything: cookies, homemade protein bars, oatmeal, homemade trail mix, and for just plain snacking. I decided to use dried cranberries as part of the base for these hemp protein bites to add some flavor and zing to the bites. It did the trick!
These might look a little funny (hemp protein tends to do that) but these taste awesome. I did use sweetened cranberries in this recipe since I have a hard time finding good tasting unsweetened ones around here.
But there are some good brands of low-sugar dried cranberries that aren’t loaded with artificial sweeteners, too. It just might take some searching to find them.
All of the cranberry celebration days naturally fall close to Thanksgiving, but you can enjoy the health benefits of cranberries year round. Fresh cranberries are usually hard to find other times of the year, but you can freeze bags of fresh cranberries to save for later, or you can indulge in dried cranberries any time.
Just be sure to check the label for added sugar if you are watching your sugar intake. Here are just a few of the awesome health benefits of cranberries:
- Naturally low in sugar (if there’s no sugar added to them)
- Low in calories
- Polyphenols: antioxidants that may promote cardiac health and reduce cancer growth
- Quercitin: antioxidant that helps with seasonal allergies, inflammation,
- Fiber: promotes bowel health
- Vitamin C: reduced inflammation and promotes immune health
- Vitmain E: antioxidant vitamin that reduces inflammation
- Prevents bladder infections by keeping bacteria from adhering to the bladder wall
- May prevent tooth decay by preventing bacteria from sticking to teeth
- Many other vitamins and trace minerals with health benefits, like Vitamin K, manganese, and phytonutrients
As with many other foods, there are some cases when eating more cranberries isn’t a great idea. People on certain blood thinning medications and people who have a history of kidney stones may need to avoid eating too many cranberries (always check with a doc!)
Check out our other protein bite/protein ball recipes:
- Fudgy Brownie Protein Bites
- Strawberry Oat Protein Bites
- Coffee Chocolate Chip Protein Bites
- Healthy Chocolate Protein Bites (Vegan)
- Orange Poppyseed Protein Bites (Vegan)
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Protein Bites
- Cranberry Chia Protein Bites
- Espresso Hemp Protein Bites
- Chai Spice Protein Bites
Cranberry Hemp Protein Bites
Ingredients
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ⅓ cup hemp hearts
- 6 Tablespoons hemp protein powder
- Dash salt
- 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup + more if dough is dry
- 2 Tablespoons SunButter
Instructions
- In a food processor or small blender, process the dried cranberries until chopped fine. Don’t process it into a paste for this recipe
- In a medium bowl, stir together the hemp hearts, hemp protein powder, and salt. Add the chopped cranberries and stir to mix.
- Mix in the maple syrup and the SunButter and stir until a sticky dough forms. If it seems dry, mix in some maple syrup a little at a time until a sticky dough forms.
- Roll dough into 8-10 balls and store in the fridge.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Sarah Jane Parker is the founder, recipe creator, and photographer behind The Fit Cookie. She’s a food allergy mom and allergy friendly food blogger of 12 years based in Wyoming. Sarah is also an ACSM Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Certified Health Coach, Revolution Running certified running coach, and an ACE Certified Fitness Nutrition Specialist
Love cranberry, these look fabulous.
Thanks Abby!
oh these are an awesome way to eat your cranberries! Love hemp seeds!
Hemp seeds are such a great sub for nuts! My kids have nut allergies so these are a great way for them to still get those healthy fats 🙂
well you know i love all things BITES! and cranberry. WIN WIN!
You’re such an inspiration for my bites recipes! 🙂
Yay! I am glad you knew it was National Eat a Cranberry day too. These bites look delicious 🙂
It’s such a funny holiday since it’s right after National Cranberry Day and National Cranberry Relish Day – lots of cranberry days together LOL 😉