Date balls anyone?

In this month’s grocery haul, I talked about making use of the cashews I bought from TJ’s by incorporating them into this tasty and easy to make snack.  This may be one of few cooking post I ever write, so that’s how you know these date balls are special.

A year ago, I didn’t know what a dates were.  I just assumed they were figs and therefore would not like them.  For anyone like me, dates are a sweet fruit that grows on trees, date palms, and are native to the Middle East according to bonappetit.com.  They look like this:

Fast forward to today, I buy dates often, primarily because of this recipe from Mona and Olive. I am not a chef and this is not a cooking blog, but  this is definitely worth sharing.

I like this particular recipe because it doesn’t require a food processor, which I don’t have the space or money for.  Also, you can incorporate protein powder– I use my mocha flavored Vega protein powder–and the outcome tastes like actual fudge.

Here are the instructions:

Ingredients
1 cup of dates chopped
1 cup of nuts or seeds chopped. I use raw cashews and chai seeds to fill the gaps of the cup
2 tablespoons of cocoa
1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil (optional)
1 tablespoon of protein powder (optional)
coconut to roll in

What you do
1. In a saucepan place the dates with 1/4 cup of water, place on medium heat until reach a slight boil. Allow to slow boil for a couple of minutes until soften. Take off heat and drain.
2. Allow to cool.
3. Add cocoa, protein powder and oil, mix in.
4. Add chopped nuts and seeds, stir in.
5. Allow to cool completely and roll into balls.
6. Store in fridge, makes 12 – 15 balls depending on size.
Don’t eat all at once, you will find that – that many dates are NOT your friend 
Great to be put in the freezer to snack on whenever you need them, once set put a couple in a zip lock bag and put them in your work freezer great for the 3pm snack!

There are other variations with dried fruits, nut butters, etc.  If you try them, let me know what you think.  Do you have any date ball recipes that you love?