As promised, I am finally getting the protein date ball recipe up! Similar to my homemade larabar (Loribar) recipes:
These are quite easy to make. I used medjool dates for this, so keep in mind they will vary a bit in moisture depending on the brand and type of dates you use.
Ingredients:
8 ounces of dates
2 oz of cashews or almonds (or any nut, really)
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
2 tablespoons dried unsweetened coconut
1 tsp cinnamon
30 grams of unflavored brown rice protein powder:
In a food processor, grind the cashews up to meal consistency.
Add the dates and pulse to chop, then spin until the mixture blends together:
You actually could form into balls at this point and have a basic Larabar. Or continue on. Add in the cinnamon and the protein powder:
Using your hands, knead the protein powder into the mixture as best as you can. It will still be somewhat dry:
Add in the coconut oil (melted) and the coconut and knead will with your hands until everything is incorporated. This takes a bit of time for the protein powder to hydrate with the oil.
Roll into ball size of choice, or press into a loaf pan lined with plastic wrap. You need to use a lot of pressure to keep these formed, so I kind of press into ball shape. In the loaf pan use something to help press the ‘batter’ in. If using the loaf pan, lift out the batter and use a pizza cutter to cut into bars:
If you store these in the fridge, the coconut oil makes them nice and firm. I could see dipping them in chocolate (did I say that??)
I am going to give a total for the entire batch, as you can determine how many pieces you get. You can do probably about 2 to 3 dozen balls or so?
Batch total: 1102 calories, 49 g of fat, 146 g of carbs, 20 g of fiber, 39 g of protein.
I have to say that I love these! Easy to pop, though – so be careful, since they are nutrient dense. If you use a whey protein powder, you may not need as much coconut oil, so experiment away. I use unflavored protein powder, as I really like the flavor of the dates by themselves, but let me know if you use a flavored one how it tastes!
Wow those look SO good! Thanks for the recipe!
.-= Beth @ Beth’s Journey to Thin´s last blog ..Leisurely Morning =-.
Those look awesome – the perfect pre-workout snack! Can’t wait to try them out.
.-= Run Sarah´s last blog ..Farmers Market =-.
yes these are so good! i made something very similiar once and they were delicious!
.-= kalli@fitandfortysomething´s last blog ..Monday Funday =-.
Oh wow, what a good idea! Thanks for the recipe! Once I get a food processor I’m making these. It’s amazing how much I want a food processor right now. 😉
.-= Mary (A Merry Life)´s last blog ..A Merry Workout Pledge #3 =-.
Yummy recipe, Lori. I made something like this with cocoa powder once. Had to work to stay away from them, though.
I made a version of these once, involving dates and chocolate chips. Good, but gone too quickly. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I’ll try it next time out.!
.-= cammy@TippyToeDiet´s last blog ..A Little Housekeeping and a Giggle =-.
If I were there, I would be knocking on your door for some of these! 🙂
.-= Jody – Fit at 52´s last blog ..More Gym Rants & Some HELP too! =-.
These look good and good macros too. Someday I’m not lazy food making wise I’ll make them 🙂
These look delicious Lori!
How funny that you posted this…I JUST made something similar yesterday. I found this amazing vegan protein powder (life’s basics) made from brown rice, hemp, chia and pea protein. I get it unsweetened (although it does come both ways)in either vanilla, chocolate or berry flavor. It’s also gf, soy free, non gmo, sugar free, high fiber and low carb. Great stuff. I basically did exactly what you did here but I split mine into 3 batches and modified the flavor of each by adding cacao nibs and cranberries to one, peanut butter to another (that one requires a little extra protein powder) and apricots and gf brown rice crisp cereal pieces to the other. These are great…thanks for posting. Im going to check out your homemade Larabar recipe as well 🙂