Peanut Brownie Bliss Balls

With no job and spending all my time at home alone just lately it has sometimes tested all of my willpower not to raid the cupboards and eat all of the sugar-laden snacks in J’s snack cupboard - still not able to persuade him to be guinea pig for me on the nutrition front, his diet is terrible!

I’ve been studying really hard in an attempt to finish the first module of my nutrition and weight management course and find especially that I get a mid-afternoon slump. I may not be particularly hungry at this point but I do get brain fog and lose concentration. Sometimes a change of scenery will suffice so I’ll get up and do a bit of housework or go for a quick walk outside, sometimes I’ll just make myself a cup of tea and get back to it, but for those moments when I’m craving something sweet it’s good to have a stash of healthy, unprocessed goodies lying in wait.

I made a batch of these amazing peanut brownie bliss balls at the start of the week and have stored them in the freezer for keeps as I find they don’t totally freeze…the perfect pick-me-up loaded with healthy fats, some protein, antioxidants and various other micronutrients.

Peanut Brownie Bliss Balls

Makes 10-12

100g whole almonds

100g unsalted peanuts

1 tbsp raw cacao powder

A splash of vanilla extract

100g soft, medjool dates (pitted)
30g dried cranberries

1-2 tbsp water as needed

Add the whole almonds and peanuts to a blender and blitz to a fine crumb

Add the cacao powder, dates and cranberries and blitz again, adding a little water if required, to form a lightly sticky paste

Roll into balls, place on greaseproof-lined plate or baking tray and freeze

Once semi-frozen transfer to a suitable container and keep in the freezer for a quick-fix, naturally sweet treat!

*To get evenly sized bliss balls weigh the mixture as a whole and divide by 10 or 12 depending on how big you’d like them to finish up – I got 11 balls each weighing 32g