Chocolate Coconut Chia Protein balls. Nut, gluten, dairy and sugar free!
I have been experimenting with a few different recipes and this has to be the most chocolatiest and yummiest of them all. It’s also a great recipe for those of you that have food allergies as it has taken out most of the usual suspects – Gluten, Nuts and Dairy.
Ingredients and directions
- 1/2 cup of dates soaked in warm water for at least an hour or overnight if you think of it the day before.
- 1 cup Pumpkin Puree (I make a big batch and freeze to make this an easy recipe to do) To make pumpkin Puree see below.
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup protein powder. Pea and rice protein. You can use whey protein if you are not dairy intolerant.
- 1/3 cup raw cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- 1 tbsp chia seeds.
- Some extra shredded coconut if you want to coat your balls in it.
- Firstly you will need to have made the pumpkin puree. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. I would take a whole pumpkin (so I have enough to freeze for future chocolate balls) and chop into pieces, place on a baking tray and cook for 20-40 mins in the oven until tender. Leave to cool and then remove skin and puree in your blender till smooth.
- Drain the water from the dates and blend till smooth-ish.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until all are combined. If the mixture is a little dry then add a small amount of water until you get the desired consistency. Don’t add too much or your mixture will be too runny/sticky to roll into balls.
- Mould mixture into small balls and either leave as they are or for a different variation roll them in some shredded coconut.
Enjoy
These have been husband and kid tested and have a massive seal of approval.
If you want to make them less sweet 1/2 the amount of dates that you add. Half the amount is still sweet enough for me to eat and reduces your sugar intake.