I might have just had these for breakfast.
You will need a food processor to make these guys.
-1 cup dates, chopped coarsely
-1 cup mixed nuts- I used 3/4 cashew, 1/4 mixed walnuts and almonds but I feel you could use almost any nut and it would be delish. Cashews are my favourite. I was going to use just cashews but I might have eaten a few while pitting dates...and didn't have enough. The mixed nuts add a great depth of flavour though.
-1/2 cup raw organic cocoa powder
-1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
-1 tsp raw organic vanilla powder (you could buy whole bean and use about 1 inch worth, chopped, instead)
-raw unsweetened coconut shreds and/or cocoa powder for coating the truffle balls.
place all the nuts in your food processor first and grind them to a fairly fine level/coarse grit. You can leave some bigger (about the size of a the nut sprinkles on ice cream cones) pieces for texture interest while eating them but you do want the vast majority of nuts to be a coarse meal texture.
add the chopped dates, cocoa powder, vanilla powder and pulse on high until totally blended with the nuts.
Slowly dribble in the orange juice while pulsing the mixture in your food processor until there's enough liquid that it will clump together properly. You're looking for a very thick paste. If you accidentally use too much, just add a bit more dates and cocoa powder to balance it off.
When you have a good thick paste, remove and roll into small balls (approx 3/4" across). My batch made 36 balls. I rolled half of them in shredded coconut and half of them in cocoa powder.
chill in the fridge for an hour and then just *try* not to eat them all at once! Keep them sealed in the fridge when you're not eating the hell outta them
Each of these little darlings is 40 calories and 2 grams of fat, a gram of protein and 3% of your iron for the day. Because there is no extra added oil or sugar, they are rich without being greasy, and sweet without being overly sweet. The unsweetened cocoa powder lends an almost tart chocolately depth that is a great match with the coconut shreds and the orange juice.
I think the next batch I make will have some chili powder in them or some diced candied ginger. Or both! oh wait! Maybe some of the fresh chocolate mint from my back yard...
uh oh.
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| behold, my delicious balls. |
