These chocolaty balls are naturally sweet, with a bit of spice. These are easy to make and don't even require baking. You can really turn up the decadence by dusting them in one or more coatings, such as shredded coconut, or even "mock" icing sugar, made from ground coconut.
Image by: Shanna S
Recipe by Thora Toft
Prep time: 10 to 30 minutes || Cook time: 0 to 10 minutes
Makes: 4 servings || Difficulty: Medium
Use organic ingredients. This can be made with all raw ingredients, for those who are raw vegans.
Ingredients:
- 14 Medjool Dates, pitted
- 2 1/2 tablespoons Raw cacao powder
- 1 to 2 tablespoons Cinnamon
- 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
Coating Ingredients:
Note: These amounts are if you choose to make this whole batch with one coating. Reduce the amounts if you're going to use more than one.
Shredded Coconut Coating:
- 1/4 cup Shredded coconut, packaged or fresh
Toasted Coconut Coating:
- 1/4 cup Shredded coconut, packaged or fresh
Coconut Dust Coating:
- 1/4 cup Shredded coconut, packaged or fresh
Ground Nut Coating:
- 1/4 cup Nuts of your choice
Roasted Nut Coating:
- 1/4 cup Nuts of your choice
Cacao Dust Coating:
- 1/8 to 1/4 cup Raw cacao powder
- 1/8 to 1/4 cup Shredded coconut, packaged or fresh (optional)
Directions:
- If dates are hard, cover with water and heat on the stove until almost boiling. Remove from heat, and let stand until soft. Remove from water and let cool to room temperature.
- Place the cookie ingredients into a food processor and blend until a paste forms. Remove from the processor and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Note that this is very sticky, and a regular blender will not work.
- While chilling, prepare one or more coatings of your choice. See below.
- Once the date mixture is chilled, roll the mixture into 1/2" balls and roll in your coating of choice.
Indulge and enjoy!
Coating Directions:
Shredded Coconut Coating:
- You can use packaged shredded coconut. Or, if you have access to fresh ripe coconut, then grate fresh coconut meat to roll the chocolate balls in.
Toasted Coconut Coating:
- Toasted coconut it one of my ultimate favorite flavors!
- Use packaged shredded coconut. Or, if you have access to fresh ripe coconut, then grate fresh coconut meat.
- Spread in a thin layer on a cookie sheet, and toast under the broiler. Watch it carefully, and stir to toss every minute, to get evenly toasted coconut.
Coconut Dust Coating:
- This gives the illusion of powdered sugar with none of the excess sugar.
- Use packaged shredded coconut. Or, if you have access to fresh ripe coconut, then grate fresh coconut meat
- If it is not already very dry, then lay on a cookie sheet and dry out more in a 250 F oven for a few minutes. You don't want to let it brown, you just want to get it as dry as possible.
- Let cool. Once cool, place it in a blender or food processor, and pulse to shred finely. Be sure to use the pulse setting, as you don't want it to glob together. You want it to be loose and fluffy. If it clumps together, then lay it out on a cookie sheet or plate and press and separate with a paper towel.
Ground Nut Coating:
- Finely grind the nuts of your choice.
Roasted Nut Coating:
- If you want the lovely taste of roasted nuts, you can coarsely grind nuts of your choice, to the size desired.
- Lay the ground nuts on a cookie sheet and toast under the broiler. Watch carefully and stir and toss the nuts every minute or so, to get nice evenly toasted nut pieces.
Cacao Dust Coating:
- You can use straight powdered cacao if you want a dark dusting.
- If you want a lighter dusting, then blend equal amounts of finely ground pale colored nuts or coconut with the cacao.
Image by: Shanna S
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