Recipe: Christmas Protein Balls

Those who know me know that I get way too over excited for Christmas, but it really is the most wonderful time of the year!! If you really get into the Christmas spirit, the atmosphere is just amazing; leading into the holiday period it’s the perfect time to reflect on the year that’s been, celebrate with friends and family and show them how much they mean to you. I’m huge on gift giving (I worked out a while ago that as a non-hugger, this is one of the ways I personally show affection) and I also love baking Christmas goodies each year!

In the past I’ve gone for pure healthy options (protein gingerbread men) and pure decadent goodies, but in the spirit of balance I decided to make something this year which is a little bit naughty and also a little bit nice! The result? Chocolate dipped protein balls!

These are also super easy to make, no actual baking required and they’re also super easy to flavour with whichever choices you’d like. I made two different flavours – Christmas Spice/Gingerbread and Chocolate Rum Raisin. Chocolate peppermint would also be a great option! The ball mix is super healthy too, so if you’re just wanting something purely “healthy” then you can leave off the chocolate dipped part at the end.

Ingredients

• 2 cups raw cashews
• 1 cup unsweetend desiccated coconut
• Protein powder of your choice (I used a vanilla for both flavours as a base, total 4 serves/ 80g protein)
• Cinnamon, to taste
• Ground ginger, to taste (for Christmas spice mix)
• Allspice, to taste
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup coconut oil, softened
• ¼ cup rice malt syrup (or sweetener of your choice)
• ½ cup raisins (for chocolate rum raisin mix)
• ½ cup slivered almonds (for chocolate rum raisin mix)
• 2 tbsp cacao/cocoa (for chocolate rum raisin mix OR you may wish to just use chocolate protein powder, but I find this gives a richer taste)
• Rum or Rum essence (to taste, for chocolate rum raisin mix)
• Chocolate melts and decorations

Method:

1. Add cashews and coconut to a food processor (if you don’t have a big one that’s fine – I have a small blender/food processor with stick mixer attachment from Kmart and it’s amazing!) and blend until a fine powder
2. In two seperate bowls mix the dry ingredients for both – Christmas Spice/Gingerbread mix I added lots of ginger and Chocolate Rum Raisin I left the ginger out and added the raisins, almonds, rum essence and cacao. Then the blended cashew/coconut mix into both. Then, add in half each of the rice malt/sweetener and coconut oil and mixed through.
3. Once combined, wrap dough mixture in clingwrap and sit in fridge for at least half an hour (not necessary, but it’s easier to roll!)
4. Then roll into ball shapes (I actually divided/cut the dough mixture up which made it so much easier to get equally sized balls!)
5. Then, melt chocolate and dip and decorate (note – I used coloured sugar sprinkles for one and totally didn’t think about the fact that they’d melt into the warm chocolate – oops!), then pop back into the fridge to allow the chocolate to set.
6. Enjoy!

Makes roughly 24 balls