These have become a regular snack (especially for morning tea, enjoyed with and dunked into a creamy coffee – I seriously recommend this). They’re easy to make, decadently chocolately, keep really well for a week and no blender (and therefore no cleaning of the blender) is required.

To make these..

You need:

• A medium size bowl
• Ground nuts of any kind/almond meal or hazelnut meal or a mix/coconut flour/
• An oil for binding (coconut oil, macadamia oil, flaxseed oil are all beautiful)
• Cocoa powder or cacao powder
• Cinnamon
• Other spice (if you like) eg. ground turmeric, cardamon, nutmeg, chilli powder
• Seeds (hemp seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, a mix of all a few of these or all is nice)
• Nut butter (peanut butter, almond butter, a mixed nut butter)
• A sweetener (eg. maple syrup, honey, coconut sugar)

Optional additions:

• Goji berries or other dried berries e.g. blueberries/inca berries (provide a nice zing, sweetness and more antioxidants)
• Chopped nuts eg. almonds, walnuts, roasted hazelnuts
• A little coffee (a dash of expresso coffee, filtered, etc) gives these chocolatey balls more of a punch (if you love coffee I highly recommend it! But note that they will be higher in caffeine so if caffeine keeps you awake avoid snacking on these in the afternoon and at night)

Method:

Throw nut meal in a bowl (I usually start with a cup full, and spice (about 1 Tbsp. cocoa and cinnamon/ other spice), then seeds (a few spoonfuls), nut butter (a few heaped spoonfuls), sweetener (love using maple syrup, I add a good drizzle), then oil (a few spoonfuls, note: if using coconut oil you may need to heat it a little so ensure it’s in a liquid state).

Using a spoon and then your hands mix all together. The mixture will need to be sticky enough for you to be able to roll into balls. If not sticky enough, add a little more oil and if too sticky add a little more nut meal.

Then lay out cocoa powder, cacao powder, sesame seeds or chia seeds on a dinner plate and roll mixture into balls (I use about a Tbsp per ball), then roll them in your powder/seeds.

Keep in an airtight container somewhere cool at room temperature or in the fridge. If using flaxseed oil keep them in the fridge as this will prevent the oil from going rancid (flaxseed oil is very delicate and best kept in fridge at all times).

These are lovely with a coffee or tea or just as they are. An easy and very nourishing snack and a wonderful source of protein.

A few tips:

• Grinding your own nuts makes these especially delicious
• One or a few balls enjoyed with a creamy milk coffee is a divine morning tea snack (especially when you dunk the balls into your coffee)
• A bag of these makes a lovely gift
• If you’re not a huge fan of chocolatey balls try making them without the cocoa/cacao and instead just add cinnamon and a dash of vanilla essence.

Gestational Diabetes –

These are a fantastic snack during pregnancy and can be very suitable for ladies with GDM. What you need to consider is the amount of sweetener you add. As this recipe doesn’t provide quantities I can’t actually suggest a sensible amount of sweetener to use. However, as a guide, if using about 1 cup of ground nuts/nut flour and if you make about 10 balls (at least) it would be fine to use 2 Tablespoons of maple syrup. If making 10 balls of more, having 2 snack balls as a snack in between meals would be very suitable for most women with GDM. However, if unsure I would suggest speaking with your Dietitian or feel free to reach out to me via email or social media.