Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls!

I love the Thug Kitchen peanut butter buckeyes, but they contain quite a bit of sugar and a small amount of coconut oil. Now as I’ve mentioned a few times, I watch Nutritionfacts videos frequently enough to know how bad sugar is for you, and saturated fat isn’t much better.

However, as sugary as they are, dates get a pass because of the beneficial phytonutrients they contain. If you don’t believe me, have a look at this! Indeed, according to Dr. Greger, dates may be considered an almost ideal food!

Anyway, I thought I’d try to replicate one of my favourite treats and make it just a bit healthier. I cut out the oil, replaced the powdered white sugar with medjool dates, and replaced the flour with sprouted whole-wheat flour. Oh, and I replaced the chocolate chips with 70% cacao. Now, according to Dr. Greger (yeah, that guy again), the Baker’s chocolate contains higher levels of phytonutrients, but, according to WFPB expert and awesome mum, Chazz Rose, I’d need to add some coconut oil to make it creamy. She advised using the 70% cacao, which melted beautifully!

Peanut Butter Balls

– makes about 28 one-ounce balls

2⁄3 cup uncooked millet
1 1⁄3 cup creamy natural peanut butter
6 medjool dates
2 TBS sprouted whole wheat or spelt flour
1TBS vanilla extract
1.5 bars 70% dark cacao

1. Heat a skillet over medium heat and toss in the millet for 4 minutes; stir constantly. Set it aside.

2. In a blender, mix together the peanut butter, dates, sprouted flour, and vanilla until a thick dough is formed. Toss in the millet and blend until it’s thoroughly blended. Make walnut-size balls with the dough and put them on a parchment-paper-covered baking sheet. Each ball should be about an ounce.

3. Put them in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.

4. Right before you are about remove the peanut butter balls from the freezer, melt the chocolate in a bain marie.

5. Using a fork, roll each ball into the melted chocolate and place back on parchment paper. You can leave a bit of the peanut butter exposed, so it looks like a buckeye, but I just covered them completely. Put the balls back in the freezer until the chocolate hardens.