Nut or Seed Butter Balls – sugar free, low carb, allergy friendly
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And I love truffles.
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” :-).
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Reasons to Love This Recipe
- 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 a light oil like avocado oil to the dough using just enough to make the dough stick together. You could try adding a non-dairy milk or water too, but that might not work as well, depending on the drynes.
Nut or Seed Butter Balls – sugar free, low carb, allergy friendly
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups coconut flour
- 3/4 cup almond butter
- 9 tablespoons low-carb sweetener
- 1/4 cup water (add more if needed)
- 3 tablespoons ground flax
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon 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!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
More tasty and healthy snacks:
Do you have a healthy favorite sweet treat that you would like to share?
Ahhhh…hating myself for coming across this page:(
At a time when I am trying my best to curb my sugar cravings & cut down on my sugar intake.
How I hate you for tempting me into sinful stuff!
$%^&*()(*&^%
Please don’t use sugar. I never do. :).
In my experience ground coconut is not really a straight substitute for coconut flour. True coconut flour is much, much more absorbent then finely ground coconut and needs a lot more liquid. I made these with honey and maple syrup and had to add almost a 1/2 cup of water to get them to stick together. Next time I make them I will go use equal quantities of coconut flour and almond butter and see how that works.
Rebecca, you are right that in general ground coconut is not a good substitute for coconut flour. But since this is not a baking recipe and it worked for me, I recommended it as an option I’ll have to give it another run to see – I haven’t made them in awhile. Now I have coconut flour in my pantry so I can try it that way too :-). I have a friend whose daughter loved these and I was hoping to bless her with some anyway :-).
Adrienne, yes i dissolved the sugar in the water.I’ll try making them again with ground coconut instead of flour and see if that makes a difference.
Please let me know how it goes. I can give it another run if need be. I haven’t made them in awhile :-).
I used brown sugar and added the water. I’ll probably try to use less coconut flour next time.My husband later told me he liked them and i think they got better with standing overnight.
Hi Kathy. Glad to hear you liked them better the next day. The only other thing I can think of is – did you dissolve the sweetener in the water? I don’t think it could be the coconut flour quality since I just used ground coconut as I didn’t have coconut flour on hand. ??
TRUFFLES REVIEW- Don’t know if i did something but my mixture was very crumbly.I had a hard time forming balls.The texture was not smooth at all, kind of grainy.Taste was tolerable considering its healthy.
Kathy, which kind of sweetener did you use? If granulated, did you add the additional water as recommended? Maybe try adding just a tad of water regardless. Let me know :-).
Mine did the same thing. I also used coconut flour. I ended up adding more almond butter and then just kept adding water until they stuck together. All in all my boyfriend liked them so I will make them again. I will probably try the chopped coconut next time and maybe some other extract flavors, like almond.
My husband is a big almond butter fan. We have several jars in the kitchen. I might make some of these to use it up. They look delicious! Thanks for sharing on Sweet Indulgences Sunday.
If you remember, tell me how you like them :-). Did you see my post on Homemade Nut Butters? It’s a great money saver.
If you remember, let me know how you like them :-).
Your truffles look marvelous! I love that they are naturally gluten-free. I will be sharing a link to this post on my highlights from the Hearth and Soul Hop tonight.
How wonderful – a truffle recipe that is full of good for you things! Your truffles look really delicious – thank you for sharing them with the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop.
Amazing, a healthy Truffle, wow these look delicious. I will have to try your recipe. Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope to see you next week!
Clever use of healthy ingredients–in a cute little ball of yum! Thanks for linking this creative recipe to Food on Fridays!
I love how healthy these are, yet they would still satisfy my sweet tooth.
Thanks fro sharing this at Simple Lives Thursday. I was looking for a recipe that uses Almond butter and this looks so easy and yummy to make. Besides I have all the ingredients at home.
Have a great happy day!
Mely
I’m so glad you liked these truffles from my Real Sustenance guest post. 🙂
Yum! I totally want to make these as they look and sound fantastic! I’m not eating flax at the moment – what would you suggest as an alternative?
I would try something of the same consistency. Perhaps rice bran or coconut flour (more of the ground coconut would work). Ground chia might work as well. I know a lot of real foodies frown on protein powder. I myself do not think it is the best alternative, but for us we add it into our diets sometimes since we have life threatening food allergies (dairy and egg) and other issues … so that would be a nice alternative as well, but I would stick with a high quality whey or brown rice or egg.
Yum! These look fantastic! Thanks for sharing.
OH these look PREFECT for baseball super food!
Thansks for sharing!
Blessings!
LIB
I found you on tip junkie! These look amazing!
Oh yum! You’ve given me inspiration to make our own little treats 🙂 I’ll be sure to link back to you! They’re so pretty too!
Sounds yummy! I may need to try these out. Thanks for posting on Monday Mania!
you are too sweet giving me a shout-out. what an awesome friend you are. thank you! I can’t wait to try your version – they sound wonderful! just posted this on my FB page so every one I know can benefit from your creativity with this recipe as well. blessings and Happy Mother’s Day! 🙂 kel