Superfood Nut-Free Energy Balls
These energy balls are the perfect mid-day pick me up and are gluten-free, refined sugar-free and also nut-free. Being nut-free makes them great to place in kids' lunch bags to take to school for a healthy treat at lunch instead of cookies, chips or chocolate.
Key Superfoods & their Health Benefits:
Dates contain iron, magnesium, vitamin B6 and fibre. I love using the pitted dates so you don't have to worry about taking the pits out of each one before using it (a pain since dates are sticky). Yes they contain sugar but it is a naturally derived sugar and dates contain lots of fibre to help regulate the sugar absorption into the blood. Sometimes I love having a couple of dates stuffed with a natural nut butter when I am feeling that afternoon sugar craving rather than a refined sugary treat that has “empty calories” (calories without fibre, vitamins, minerals, protein, healthy fats).
Cacao powder is from the raw cacao bean - it is an unprocessed form of cocoa. Cocoa has some health benefits but for the maximum nutritional benefit of cocoa, it is best to consume it in its raw form - cacao. Cacao contains fibre, iron, magnesium, and, B vitamins.
Ashwagandha is an Ayurvedic herb that is a great adaptogen (supports your adrenal glands to regulate that “stress hormone” cortisol). It helps to lower your cortisol levels and through doing so, supports your thyroid hormone production. For more information on thyroid health, click here. Ashwagandha may also help increase testosterone through regulating cortisol levels. If you are making these energy balls primarily for kids, you can choose to remove the ashwagandha powder from the recipe.
The Greens powder has a bunch of green vegetables to support detoxification and general health. You could use any greens powder but I used the Botanica Chocolate Greens. Again, if you are making this specifically for kids, then you can leave out the greens powder as well - especially if your kids are very young.
The ashwagandha powder and greens powders should be available at your local health food store.
Superfood Nut-free energy balls
INGREDIENTS:
14 dates, pitted
1 tbsp cacao powder (I used the Navita brand)
2 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
3 tbsp Botanica Chocolate Greens powder
2 tbsp Chia seeds
2 tbsp + 1 tsp coconut oil
1 tsp Organic Traditions Ashwagandha powder
Extra unsweetened shredded coconut for rolling
METHOD:
Place all ingredients (except the extra shredded coconut) in a food processor and pulse until dates are chopped up into a paste and everything is well-combined
Place the mixture in a mixing bowl and put it in the fridge to chill for about 15 minutes. This will make it easier to roll as it solidifies the coconut oil a little bit.
Roll into 1-2 bite sized balls and coat with some unsweetened shredded coconut if you would like.
Place them in the fridge to keep them firm as the coconut oil will make them soft if left out at room temperature (Don't worry, they will still be soft enough to bite into). If they are hard when you take them out of the fridge to consume, leave them at room temperature for a couple of minutes to soften.
