Chocolate Nut-Free Energy Balls

Whether you’re allergic or just don’t have a taste for nuts, these nut-free energy balls are rich. They satisfy that chocolate craving and give you a boost of energy to help you power through the day.

Important Note

The products in this recipe could be manufactured in facility that also uses nut products. As always, if you have a severe allergy, read your labels and discuss cross-contamination comfort levels with your allergist.

About these nut-free chocolate energy balls

• Nut-free! It seems like every energy ball recipe we come across has some sort of nut butter included in the list of ingredients. Since that doesn’t work for us with our kids’ food allergies, we set out to figure out an alternative. We wanted these to not only be nut-free but also to be free of sesame seeds and sunflower seeds.
• Great snack: We often have an afternoon cup of coffee and we always crave a bite of chocolate with it. Usually we'll grab a square of dark chocolate but lately we've been reaching for a couple of these. We feel like we're eating chocolate truffles! However, they’re sweetened only with dates and a bit of honey so we can feel good about eating them (and they don’t contain heavy cream!).
• Nutritious Ingredients: We used flaxseed meal inside these energy bites and we also rolled them in flaxseed meal to keep them from becoming too sticky. We also add protein powder for an added boost.

What goes in

We tested these without the honey because they don’t necessarily need the sweetness, but they didn’t come together well enough to roll into balls. The honey acts as “glue” for these energy balls.

Also hanging out in the food processor with the flaxseed meal and protein powder are oats, coconut, pitted dates, unsweetened cocoa powder and honey. Goooooood stuff. We roll ours in flaked coconut, cocoa powder, or flax.

We love the way the coconut looks but we'll be honest, it was a bit of a beast to get it to stick to the energy balls. Shredded coconut would probably work a bit better if you want to go that route.

Keeping leftovers

Fridge: Store these in fridge from keeping the flaxseed meal from becoming rancid and we like the way they taste when they’re cold.

• Yield: 30 energy balls
• Prep: 15 minutes
• Total: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups pitted dates
• 1/2 cup thick rolled oats
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
• 1/4 cup chocolate protein powder
• 2 tablespoons honey
• Additional flax meal, coconut, or cocoa powder for rolling

Method

1. Add all ingredients to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until completely blended.
2. Roll into balls (we used a two teaspoon scoop) and then roll in additional cocoa powder, flaxseed meal, or coconut (or a combination of cocoa powder and flaxseed meal).

Notes

Best stored in fridge and eaten cold.

Serving size: 2 energy balls