Here’s a copy-cat recipe of “frooze balls” that I found at Trader Joe’s (or these Turkish ones I loved to snack on traveling back home in Turkey) and thought it was a really nice snack to have on hand.
So instead of buying an amazon subscription, I made them at home, mini-batch style.
Of course if you’re feeding a crowd go ahead and make 4x the recipe. If you’re doing that I recommend using a blender or food processor to blend your dates into date mush.
Otherwise just mash your soft dates into a mush with a fork and mix everything else to get a non-sticky cookie dough.
Here’s a LPT: If your dates aren’t soft, put them in a microwave safe bowl, cover with water and microwave 30 sec at a time until they’re nice, soft and pliable. Drain the water out (you can save some for helping bind your cookie dough together too).
You’ll cover pre-frozen bits of nut butter with this cookie dough and then coat them with something dry – I used shredded coconut, but coconut flour or cocoa powder or even oat flour will also work.
Freeze again to set and voila, yummy treats you can keep frozen or refrigerated. Depending on how much water you used to bind your dough they may or may not hold their shape in room temp, FYI.
They are so good for a little afternoon pick me up and hope you give them a try!
Mini-batch Stuffed Energy Balls
Ingredients
Filing
- 2 tbsp nut/seed butter (32 g) I used peanut butter
Cookie dough
- 4 large soft medjool dates, pitted and chopped (80 g) about 1/2 cup pitted and chopped
- 2 tbsp coconut flour (14 g) sub oat flour, vegan protein powder, or quick oats might work too
Coating
- 2 tbsp shredded coconut (10 g) sub cocoa powder, oat/almond/coconut flour, quick oats
Instructions
- Drop 8 tsp balls of nut/seed butter on a piece of parchment and freeze until completely frozen, at least a few hours, ideally overnight. I was able to roll mine into balls but the shape doesn't matter as long as they're frozen solid.
- In a bowl mash your chopped dates with a fork. If they're not soft enough to mash cover them in water, microwave 30 sec and drain the water out. Try again.
- Add coconut flour, pinch of salt and a drop of vanilla and mash again to form a smooth dough. If too dry add a drop of water and mash again. Should be smooth and not too sticky, like cookie dough. If too wet, you can add a pinch of more flour.
- Take a tablespoon of date cookie dough and wrap around a frozen ball of nut butter. Repeat until all balls are wrapped, cover in coconut flakes and freeze again to set.
- Enjoy your treats frozen or refrigerated!