I have a small sweet tooth. I like to finish a meal with something sweet. When I worked at my last office, there was a candy jar that I would dip into from time to time when I was stressed out and just wanted something sweet.
Now that I’m at another job and more determined to eat clean to heal certain things, I avoid any office candy at all costs. That doesn’t mean the sweet cravings ever go away.
These Cacao Hemp Tahini Date Balls are perfect bites of chocolatey goodness with a good amount of healthy fat and protein from walnuts, hemp seeds, and tahini (sesame seed butter). As if it couldn’t get any better, these date balls are also boosted with collagen peptides from Further Food.
I’ve talked about the benefits of collagen a few times, here’s the TL:DR version- collagen keeps your joints, skin, hair and bones healthy. Collagen peptides are a flavorless, dissolvable powder that you can add into water or anything really that can sneakily give you an extra boost of collagen.
To get the cleanest peptides possible and the best for your body, go with grass-fed, pasture raised collagen, or wild caught if you want to use the version derived from fish. I’m such a believer in collagen peptides I’ve partnered with Further Food to provide you a sweet discount. If you haven’t tried collagen peptides, you can get 10% off your order at Further Food by using my code SMALLEATS10 at checkout. I use the regular collagen peptides (from cows), the marine peptides are just as good.
There are a few swaps and substitutions you can do to make this your own. I used cacao powder in this recipe because it’s cleaner than cocoa and it’s what I have, if you only have cocoa, that will totally work. I have made this recipe with other nuts besides walnuts, but it was way chunkier and drier than with the walnuts. It’s doable, but I prefer the walnuts. If you have success with other nuts, let me know in the comments below.
If you don’t have hemp seeds, you can swap them out with sunflower seeds. Nutritionally it won’t be as strong, but still good. If you’re vegan/vegetarian or aren’t interested in using collagen, you can leave that out of the recipe, it’s not essential for the structure, more for a nice nutritional boost. I used tahini in this recipe because I can easily over nut butter my gut. If you aren’t as sensitive/don’t go overboard with peanut butter or almond butter, feel free to swap out the tahini with either two. Make sure it’s just the nuts and maybe some salt, no crappy vegetable oils or sugar.
Enjoy these date balls as a small sweet treat to your day and feel good about the nutrition you’re getting too.
Ingredients
- 12 ounces pitted dates
- 2 cups raw walnuts
- 1/3 cup cacao powder
- 3 tbsp hemp seeds
- sprinkle of sea salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 scoops collagen peptides (I recommend Further Food)
- 3 tbsp organic tahini
Instructions
Put dates in your food processor and pulse until small pieces remain or a ball forms. If a ball forms, check to make sure the dates in the ball are cut up. Scoop out into a bowl and set aside.
Add walnuts to food processor and pulse into a rough meal. Add in cacao powder, hemp seeds, collagen peptides, and spices. Pulse one to three times to combine.
Add tahini and dates in and run food processor until a ball forms or until your mixture can hold together when you press it together with your fingers.
Scoop into the bowl and form ping pong-sized balls with your hands and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
Adapted from Minimalist Baker