Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Balls
A lot of protein balls call for expensive protein powders, containing all sorts of odd ingredients. My recipe is made with real ingredients that you can actually recognize! Make these delicious, high-protein balls for the week ahead so you can get out the door fast, feeling full and unfrazzled. They’re also great as an afternoon pick-me-up or pre-workout snack.
Equipment
- Optional: disposable latex or nitrile gloves make rolling these less messy
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup hemp hearts
- ⅓ cup unsalted sunflower seeds
- ⅓ cup unsweetened coconut shreds
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ cup cashews raw, unsalted
- ½ cup dark chocolate baking chunks or chips
- ⅓ cup coconut oil
- 8 dates pitted
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter preferably all-natural, unsweetened
Instructions
- Combine hemp hearts, sunflower seeds, coconut shreds, and ground cinnamon in a large bowl.
- Coarsely chop the cashews and dark chocolate chunks and add to the bowl.
- Coarsely chop dates and add to the jar of a blender or the chopping/ blending attachment of an immersion blender (more right-sized for this job, in my opinion). If you don’t have a blender (or simply don’t want to wash it after) chop the dates more finely and form a coarse paste by smushing them up with the back of your knife or a bench scraper.
- Melt coconut oil in the microwave for 5-10 seconds - just until liquid, and add to your chopped dates. Blend dates and coconut oil together until a smooth paste forms. Don’t worry if the coconut oil separates. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients.
- Add peanut butter to the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine.
- Refrigerate for about an hour until the mixture is easily formed into balls.
- Wearing disposable gloves (if using), roll into ping pong-sized balls (1 oz), refrigerate, and enjoy!
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!