Date Balls
1/2 cup smooth or crunchy peanut butter, preferably no sugar added. (my favourite is Nature's Choice: just crushed peanuts, nothing else!)
1 cup desiccated coconut + more to roll the balls in
2 tablespoons real maple syrup
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 cups dates, fresh is best
optional: flax seeds, linseeds, some crushed nuts (esp. pecans), vegan chocolate chips
1. Put the dates into a dish and cover with boiling water for 10 minutes to allow them to soften.
2. While waiting, add the rest of the ingredients to a bowl and mix them up.
3. Remove the pips from the dates; then chop them into fine pieces. once you have chopped them all, mash with a potato-masher for 15-20 seconds. The aim is to get them soft and juicy, not to make a pulp!
4. Mix this into the other bowl.
5. Roll into balls of about a 1.5inch diameter, and then roll through some coconut.
6. Serve immediately, or refrigerate in a sealed container if you want them a bit more solid.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
These are fantastic! ;)b
I added about 1/2 each of almond meal and chopped hazelnuts and some extra coconut because I had too much liquid in the dates after soaking them. I also used dark chocolate dreams for the peanut butter so it had a little extra chocolately goodness :)>>>
I highly recommend these!
Very good indeed!