Hand on heart, these delicate little bites are good for you. This recipe for Healthy Swedish Chocolate Balls chokladbollar are incredibly nutritious, quick, and easy to make. They’re gluten, dairy, refined sugar and nut free, making them the healthiest treat possible.
Classically, in Sweden, chokladbollar consist of oats, butter, refined sugar and cocoa, delicious but not the sort of treat you can eat every day. What makes my bites especially nourishing, beyond the presence of cacao and coconut of course, is that they contain chickpeas. In addition they’re sweetened with dates. These two ingredients give this delicious treat a luxurious, indulgent texture; simple larder ingredients that you almost always have to hand too.
All you need is a food processor, if you have children to occupy, definitely get them involved with choosing additional flavours, such as orange or raspberry and in the rolling.
A soft, strong hit of chocolate, in its most intense form. Chocolate lovers, you’re certainly going to appreciate this recipe!
Healthy Swedish Chocolate Balls (Chokladbollar)
Ingredients
- 210 g Chickpeas cooked
- 150 g soft stoned dates soak in boiling water for 10 minutes if they're hard
- 20 g coconut oil
- 2 tbls cacao
- ¼ tsp sea salt fine
- Unsweetened desiccated coconut for rolling
Optional additional flavours
- zest of an orange
- 1½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 tbls freshly ground coffee
- 1 tbls freeze dried raspberry powder
- 1 tsp natural mint extract
Instructions
- In a food processor add the stoned dates, chickpeas, coconut oil, cacao, salt and any additional flavouring that takes your fancy. Process until you have a smooth dough. You may have to scrape down the sides of the processor several times to make sure that all the ingredients have minced.
- Tip into a large mixing bowl. With your hand bring the mixture together to make sure all the ingredients are evenly distributed, it should be slightly sticky.
- Scoop out rounded tablespoons of the dough and roll into balls. Set aside as you go, I roll then into approximately 20g balls.
- Pour the desiccated coconut into a shallow bowl. Roll the balls in the coconut to coat.
- Refrigerate for an 1 hour. I like them best brought slightly back to room temperature before eating.
- The chocolate balls will keep for a week, refrigerated in an airtight container.
They are the perfect make-ahead recipe to keep on hand for healthy snacking, and most importantly, they are irresistible.
Tips:
- Substitute dates for dried figs.
- There are endless flavour additions even freshly milled black pepper or chilli flakes work in this recipe.
- Don’t like desiccated coconut, roll in cacao or freeze dried raspberries instead.
You may also like this recipe for Healthy No Bake Granola Bars
Honey & Oat Sourdough Loaf
Yummy little things
Thank you Julia, I’m delighted you think so :-))
Can I substitute chickpeas with almond flour?
I would say no because I don’t think the mixture would hold form. If you can’t eat chickpeas consider butter beans as an alternative. Hope that helps.
HOw do yo cook chickpeas?
Hi Christine,
You can buy ready cooked chickpeas in a can, just drain. Cooking dried chickpeas takes longer. You have to soak them in plenty of water overnight. Then boil in fresh water until tender, approximately 30 minutes. Hope this helps.