These sticky treats are not your grandma’s date balls. They are fudgy and packed with chocolate flavour. I added a lot of nuts, probably more than you might want, but they are tasty. And they are easy to adjust to what you have on hand or what your tastes are. I am often finding myself pining for chocolate and these have successfully satisfied those cravings time and again. They keep wonderfully in the fridge and travel well. While I happily used my food processor that I got from my friend Kim, these could be made without it by chopping things up very small by hand and mixing well, though they will be less fudge-like. They are pretty darn healthy, there is no butter or sugar added as the dates act as both.

Chocolate & Nut Date Balls

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups of pitted medjool dates (can be whole, chopped, whatever. You are processing them)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup salted cashews (I just had these on hand and they were awesome, the saltiness added a new dimension)
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 2-4 tbsp cocoa powder (start with two and work up to your desired fudginess)
• 1/3 cup dried oats (whole oats if you are using a food processor; quick oats if not, as they are already chopped up)
• 2 tbsps of semi-sweet chocolate chips are optional (totally not necessary but will further amp the chocolate factor)

DIRECTIONS

1. Chuck everything into the food processor and blend. Start with only 2 tbsp of cocoa powder and add more as needed. If the texture isn’t coming together more dates will add the necessary stickiness. Add more nuts, coconut, dried fruit, etc. as desired.
2. Once things have been chopped down to your taste, roll into balls, place in a tupperware and refrigerate to firm them up. Feel free to roll these in some additional cocoa powder or coconut.
3. If you are making these by hand, which is definitely possible, chop all the ingredients that need it, as well as you can. Pop everything into a bowl and stir aggressively (that’s right, aggressively!) to combine. You are looking for the ingredients to stick together and distribute evenly.
4. Eat morning, noon, and night.

All the good stuff, ready to mingle.