This recipe is in my “14 Day Gourmet Cleanse & Rejuvenation” Book. I have gotten such great feedback that I wanted to share it with all of you. It’s another high energy, kid-favorite snack.
2 cups Medjool dates, pitted
1/4 cup raw almond butter
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup hemp nut seeds, optional
Place the dates in the food processor with the sea salt and almond butter. Process until you reach a smooth consistency, which can take several minutes. While the dates and almond butter are processing, place the coconut and hemp nuts in a bowl. Use your hands to roll small 1-inch size balls and then roll them through the coconut and/or hemp nuts. Store them in an air-tight container in your refrigerator.
You can increase the amount of protein when you use the hemp nut seeds, which provide 11 gr. protein per 1/4 cup.
Nutritional Profile for each 1-inch ball :
Calories: 50
Protein: 1gr.
Carbs: 15gr.
Fat: 1gr.
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Eloise Nelson received her Ph.D. in Holistic Nutrition and has more than thirty years experience in nutrition, natural health care, and exercise training. Eloise is the Director of New Product Development for Organic Food Company, where for 16 years she has formulated organic snack foods and organically grown supplements that are currently sold in 50 states and 13 countries. She teaches ongoing seminars in food preparation and nutrition and continues her nutritional consulting practice in Boulder, Colorado. Learn more about Eloise at www.ThePowerofChow.com.
How many does this make? and what is the NI for adding the hemp seeds? Fiber count?
I’m not sure why Eloise calls them vanilla energy balls, unless she just means “not chocolate”! They’re date balls if you ask me, but I think they’d be really yummy with ground or finely chopped nuts instead of coconut and a splash of either vanilla or some sort of liquor, like brandy. Splash = teaspoon.
As far as nutritional info with the addition of the hemp seeds, fiber content, etc., I’ll ask Eloise about this. I’d guess this doesn’t make more than 12-15 balls, maybe less.
I’d be apt to scrape the seeds out of a vanilla bean pod and mix it in with the dates to give that vanilla punch.