Don't these look like chocolate munchkins or doughnut holes you can buy from Dunkin Donuts?
If you have never heard of them before they are little balls of doughnut cut out of a large doughnut when making a hole in it sold at many coffee shops in New England. My kids LOVE them and I try to limit how often they can have them. They may not be a lot of calories but are full of white flour and white sugar I would prefer they don't have frequently.
Also for awhile now I've been wanting to come up with a no bake dessert. I've seen a bunch on Pinterest, but of course many contain nuts my boys can't have. I thought about combining the two ideas and came up with this recipe using dates to sweeten them. They are much heavier in texture than doughnut holes from the coffee shop and my kids loved them AND I loved I didn't have to bake them! Easy to whip up in a food processor in no time at all.
If you are able to have nuts they would give this a yummy crunchy inside. You could replace the chocolate chips with any nuts of your choice. You could also roll these in crushed nuts on the outside, that would be delightful!
My goal in the making of these was not low calorie or low fat but something nutritious as an alternative to doughnut holes at the coffee shop. Enjoy!
These would be perfect in the summer when you don't want to heat your house! If you're in the mood for more chocolate , you could make some fabulous Sugar-Free Brownies, or Dairy Free Sugar Free Chocolate Mousse ( no oven required for that either!)
My oldest pickiest 11 year old boy LOVED them so that is saying A LOT!
- 1 ¼cup coconut flakes, shredded, unsweetened
- 4 tablespoons cocoa powder, unsweetened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup chocolate chips*
- 1 banana, mashed
- ½ teaspoon chocolate liquid stevia
- 9 dates, pitted, chopped
- Blend one cup of the coconut flakes with the banana and cocoa in a food processor.
- A small amount at a time add the chopped dates to the food processor.
- Once thoroughly combined until smooth mix in the stevia, vanilla extract and salt.
- Place mixture into a bowl and stir in the chocolate chips.
- Place the ¼ cup of coconut flakes onto a plate.
- Make 14 small chocolate balls from the mixture then roll them into the coconut flakes. Refrigeration is not necessary, but if you are not eating them right away I would keep them in the fridge to stay firm until you are ready to eat.
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Regina
I made these for my bicycle club, Everyone love them. I used sugar instead of stevia as I did not have any and added a couple teaspoons more cocoa powder to make up for not having Chocolate flavored Stevia.
Has anyone tried using date paste instead of chopping updates? Its usually found in the international section at the supermarket or in MiddleEastern markets.
How about adding protein powder? I am allergic to peanuts and tree nuts and am looking for a way to add protein.
Angela
I have made these with peppermint extract instead of the liquid stevia, then roll them in crushed up candy cane instead of coconut....make for a very festive treat over the Holidays! We use TruJoy Candy Canes (no artificial colours or flavours!).
Katie
I just wanted to post to offer a solution to subbing banana. I HATE banana (can't even stand the smell ick) and I didn't have any applesauce, so I used avocado instead. The only issue I had was it didn't blend so well in the food processor (but I tend to find most recipes with dates have that problem) it just clumps up. So I just use the processor to initially mix it and continue to scrape it down, then put the mixture into a bowl mash it with a potato masher to get all the clumps smooth and then use my hands to mix it in! Turned out perfect!
Kiana
I am loving your website, its awesome. Such healthy recipes. Now for this particular recipe, we dont have chocolate liquid stevia, what can I substitute it with?
Thanks in advance.
Cheers Kiana
D
Possibly a really really stupid question...
If I ran out of cocoa powder literally yesterday, could I blend cocoa nibs to make the cocoa powder as well as using cocoa nibs instead of chocolate chips??
Brenda
You could but the cocoa nibs are unsweetened, well mine are anyway, if yours are you might need more sweetener added.
Deanna
Aren't dates amazing??? These look so incredibly good--can't wait to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
melissa @ my whole food life
These look awesome and they are right up my alley. I will be trying them soon! Thanks for sharing!
Angie
Soo soo good!
Marina
THESE WERE SO GOOD; I made them twice in one week. My mom was so excited that she could eat them (she has a very resricted diet) and my dad thought they were delicious! I wish I could think up genius recipes like this.
Brenda
thanks Marina!
Gabriella
Love theses desserts especially when your family is al gluten free , and with my daughter that is lactose and have many allergies. Thank you for the great reciepes.
MamaYama
Hi Brenda, I love your site! I made these yesterday and they were a huge hit. My oldest hates bananas and anything with bananas. He saw me make these and knew they were in their but he couldn't resist! I ran out of coconut and so I rolled them in ground flax seed. Definitely one to make again, along with my new addiction your oven fried broccoli and cauliflower. I make these every
week now, a new staple!
Cynthia
No I didn't change a thing. I used every ingredient as listed even down to the Enjoy Life Mini Choco Chips. Not sure what I did wrong. I don't have a food processor, so everything was done by hand. Would that make a difference?
Brenda
I definitely think the food processor makes the ingredient so fine that they hold together extremely well. I've never tried it by hand. Sorry that happened.
Cynthia
Made these today and they weren't as sweet (not that I were expecting them to taste like milk chocolate) as I thought and salt is listed in the ingredients but not in the directions. Also my mixture came out gooey and not "brownie" like as in the photos. I yielded more than 14 balls so I had to use more coconut.
Brenda
Did you change any ingredients and what kind of chocolate chips did you use?
Jackie
How big are these? 4pp sounds like a lot for just one small ball.
Diana
can you substitute apple sauce (unsweetened) for the banana?
Brenda
you really can't taste banana in this but as opposed to applesauce mashed banana is much thicker in texture. Not sure how it would work.