Chocolate hazelnut “nutella” balls
I made these chocolate hazelnut balls the other day and had my friend Laura taste test them, they were definitely approved – she was sure I had added a lot of nutella, which in our opinion is always a good thing ;) However, these little dessert balls are actually all healthy and contain only unprocessed ingredients, which means I’ve been snacking on them non-stop all day, haha it’s all good when they’re healthy right?!
Ingredients:
1 cup hazelnuts
1/3 cup dates, packed
2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
1 tablespoon coconut oil
¼ cup acacia honey
1 teaspoon pure vanilla powder
A pinch of salt
3 squares dark chocolate (I used 70%)
Directions:
- Start by toasting the hazelnuts in the oven for a couple of minutes on 350 f / 175 c. Simply place them on a tray lined with baking paper and toast them until the skin begins to crack. Peel the skin off the nuts and let them cool.
- Place 3/4 of the hazelnuts in a food processor and pulse until they’re very finely chopped, almost powder like, but I prefer to keep a bit of the crunch and texture. Add the rest of the ingredients – except the dark chocolate and the rest of nuts – and pulse until everything is well combined.
- Refrigerate for 15-30 minutes so the mixture is easier to work with. While the mixture cools you can prepare the coating/topping, simply chop the rest of the hazel nuts and the dark chocolate – I prefer to do this by hand so it doesn’t get chopped too finely, it’s good with some crunch.
- Form the mixture into balls and roll them into the chopped dark chocolate & hazelnuts and press them to make sure the topping sticks.
- And you’re done, enjoy!
Store them in the fridge or freezer to keep them fresh and firm.
