Eating healthy does not mean you have to deprive yourself of sweets and treats! Nature has given us the best candy ever: fruit! There are so many amazing raw food dessert recipes to try, but this is one of my favorites purely because of it's simplicity.
I am making this recipe as easy as 1, 2, 3.
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
2 cups of dates
3 tablespoons of cacao powder
Place all ingredients in the food processor until well combined. Then take a spoonful at a time and roll it into little balls. If this seems tedious, you could roll it all out to about a 1/2 inch thick slab and slice it into square bars instead. After you are done rolling the balls, you can roll them in more cocoa powder or coconut flakes if you want.
You will see in my pictures that I used peanuts today! That is the other beautiful part of this recipe - it is soooo easy to change it up with different flavors. You can add nuts, nut butter, coconut, natural extracts or essential oils. For my peanut butter version I use 1/4 cup of peanuts and 2 heaping tablespoons of peanut butter. For my coconut version I add about 1 tsp. of coconut extract and then I roll the balls in coconut once they are formed. Try mint or orange extract too! Raw food desserts are amazing. It is not something you want to overdo because sugar is sugar so just because it is healthy it doesn't mean you can completely binge. But because you are using all natural and raw ingredients, you reap the benefits of ALL the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and polyphenols. Cooking destroys a high percentage of the nutrients in our foods so when we eat raw we are getting the most nutrition possible from our food and that results in an instant energy boost after you eat rather than feeling sluggish.
These are sweet treats I love to have around for a quick energy boost, snack, or dessert. I hope you enjoy them too!