I used to make sugar and chocolate-laden ones as Christmas gifts years ago. But now that our family is trying to eat more healthfully, I have passed up my old truffle recipe in search of a fresh alternative.
Well, I finally found one. Here is a great recipe for nut butter balls that are kind of like truffles. You and your family can indulge in these while knowing that they are really good for you.
My inspiration for these came from Real Sustenance, a website dedicated to raw foods. I found her recipe about one month ago and just had to try it.
True to my ways, I changed up the recipe a bit with new ingredients and a money-saving twist-- and boy, do we have another winner this time.
The idea to roll these nut butter balls in coconut came from Kelly of The Nourishing Home. I should have thought of it myself, since I rolled my other homemade truffles in cocoa, coconut and chopped nuts. Ah well, sometimes we all need a reminder of good things.)
We even had friends over yesterday who do not have any dietary restrictions and they LOVED them. In fact, my dear friend's daughter can be a picky eater and she kept asking for more "cookies" :-).
Why these nut butter balls are great:
- They are raw, so you can benefit from increased nutrition
- They are simple to prepare - no baking required
- The recipe is variable so you can "make do" with whatever you have in your home
- They are packed with nutrition from nuts or seeds, coconut, and flax (a powerhouse of omega 3s)
- A lot cheaper than buying fancy chocolates and such
How about passing this recipe onto your kids or your husband so that they can whip up a batch (or two) for you on Mother's Day or some other holiday? They are so easy to make that they can make them with almost no help!
Recipe Notes
- Money Saving Tip: To save money, simply grind shredded coconut. 3 cups coconut will yield approximately 1 1/2 cups once ground. I use my Vitamix to grind it and it works great. Ground coconut isn’t really coconut flour but it works pretty well in this recipe.
- Nut Butter Options: Almond butter is wonderful, but any nut or seed butter will work. See this post on Homemade Nut Butter. You may need to add more coconut flour or flax if the resultant mix is too thin.
- Sweeteners: Any healthy sweetener can be used instead of xylitol, but if you use a liquid sweetener you should omit the water, and you may need to use a different amount of sweetener if using a liquid, so read this post for tips on substituting sweeteners. If using pre-sweetened nut or seed butters like SunButter, reduce sweetener accordingly. If using stevia extract, try 4-5 scoops (see How to Use Stevia).
- Note that some readers have found that these balls are too dry after following the directions. Even when I make my own nut butters and seed butters I have found that some batches are quite a bit more dry than others. If your balls turn out too dry, simply add some water or a non-dairy milk to the dough using just enough to make the dough stick together.
Nut or Seed Butter Balls - sugar free, low carb, allergy friendly
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups coconut flour
- 3/4 cup almond butter
- 9 Tbsp xylitol
- 1/4 cup water (add more if needed)
- 3 Tbsp ground flax
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 tsp salt
- Extra carob and/or shredded coconut for rolling
Instructions
- Add all ingredients (except sweetener, if using granulated) to a medium-size bowl.
- If using granulated sweetener, mix sweetener and water in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat until sweetener dissolves. You could also powder the sweetener to make it easier to blend. See my post on Powdered Sugar Substitute.
- Mix well until all ingredients are blended.
- Add more water (non dairy milk is fine too) if needed to keep balls together).
- Roll mixture into small balls. You can also use a small stainless scoop (I love this one) for easier and less messy rolling.
- Enjoy!
More tasty and healthy snacks:
Do you have a healthy favorite sweet treat that you would like to share?
These are a life-saver!!
Just found this blog and when searching for protein ball recipes and made them a couple nights ago.
I used about half the sweetener amount in the form of erythritol, and found that to be plenty sweet for my household's taste. Yes, the dough was looking a bit dry and crumbly at first but I just added a bit more water - problem solved.
My teenager is delighted to have an easy and filling snack on hand that tastes great. He literally closed the lid on the container to prevent his father from inhaling "too many" in one go.
I'll be making these all year!
Thank you Judy! I'm so glad! I just updated the post with information about adding water or a non dairy milk. I haven't made these in a long time.
I bet your son would like these: https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/snickerdoodle-cookie-dough-balls/
Aha - those look great too. Will definitely give the snickerdoodle version a try as well.
I cannot find where it says how to store these so I'm assuming it's the frigerator. I like others follow the recipe to the T and they ended up being very dry. I had to add water, and some flaxseed oil. They are still dry so I'm wondering what else could have been added. I'm thinking I will still end up eating them as snacks because the ingredients are very expensive
Hi there--sorry about that! I had another reader comment that they were dry. I'm thinking it's the nut butter b/c I have noticed that when I make homemade nut butters the texture can be really dry at times and really moist at others. About how much oil did you add? I don't think that adding water is the way to go. Sorry for the delay. I got buried under other things and am coming back to address comments I didn't get to. Thanks for reading!
I tried these but they were so dry. Did I miss something? I had to add coconut oil and water and they still seem dry. Suggestions?
Hmmm...did you follow the recipe exactly? I haven't had that problem unless my nut or seed butter was particularly dry. How was yours? Good to hear from you :)!
tried this recipe w/ coconut flour and it rolled into balls, though was a little crumbly (used honey as a sweetener) but is very very dry and sticks in the throat. great w/ Earl Grey tea! i would add more fat next time to get the texture better. i'm thinking of trying coconut oil in addition to everything else. I think ground coconut (my choice) would work better than the coconut flour, but coconut flour is what I had on hand and I wanted to follow the recipe exactly the first time.
Since the coconut flour has less fat, maybe adding fat would be the solution. I rolled mine in cinnamon, then some in nutmeg and others in allspice.
Glad to have a quick food on hand for the tired mama who doesn't always stop to eat and make enough food for herself!
Hmmm...not sure - our worked fine. Oh - that's it. Coconut flour absorbs TONS of liquid. 🙂
Okay, but how much granulated pure steia extract? I think 9 tablespoons is quite a bit. I also have liquid stevia if that is easier for your to convert.
Thanks! You help so many people!!!!
Stevia extract is a powder so you would only use 4-5 scoops (I think I put that in the recipe.) I tend not to use drops in my recipes as I am not as well-versed in them. Typically 1 scoop of stevia extract is equivalent to about 2 T of sweetener. I'll put a link in the post to the powder I use. :).
Do you have a ball park figure of how many these make? Not sure if I should whip up a double batch! Thanks! Also, is that 4 tablespoons of pure stevia powder (seems like a lot). Or, do you suggest liquid stevia?
Yikes. I always forget to figure out servings. I didn't see 4 Tbsp stevia in the recipe??? Could you tell me where you see that?
Oops, sorry, it says 9T sweetener and then add 4T water. Can you clarify this? Can I use stevia?
If it's granulated. I would try stevia and no water. :). I have a better recipe coming....someday :).