You know that feeling when you’re craving something sweet and chocolatey like a square of Lindt salted caramel dark chocolate (yes that’s my weakness!), but you don’t want to eat junk, especially when you’ve been working hard to keep fit and healthy? Well I have the answer you’ve been looking for! Enter my raw bliss balls.

These delictable treats will hit the spot. They are super easy to make and are packed full of nuts and natural sweeteners like dates and cranberries. Now, I wouldn’t recommend eating several in one sitting as they are quite rich, but they are perfect if you feel like a treat after dinner or need an afternoon or post-workout snack.

I like to use carob instead of cocoa powder because it contains slightly less fat and fewer kilojoules but similar levels of B vitamins. Carob powder is also free of the stimulants caffeine and theobromine found in chocolate (admittedly at low levels). This is great for me as I am super-sensitive to caffeine and try to avoid it entirely. On the downside, carob doesn’t have the antioxidants found in dark chocolate, but I figure I can get them from other foods.

You can keep these in the fridge for two weeks.

Recipe 

24 pitted dates
1/4 cup of dried cranberries
1/2 cup (80g) almonds
1 tbsp rice malt syrup
1 tbsp coconut oil melted
2 tbsp carob powder
Pinch of sea salt flakes
1/4 (20g) dessicated coconut
1/4 (20g) LSA (linseed (flaxseed) sunflower seed and almond)

Method 

Place he dates, almonds, rice malt syrup, coconut oil and salt in a food processor. Process until nuts are finely chopped and the mixture comes together.

Roll two teaspoons of the mixture into balls. Roll half the balls in LSA and the other half in the dessicated coconut.

Refridgerate until ready to eat.

Desiccated Coconut