Cooking with Hart Recipes

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups medjool dates ((~14 dates, measured after pitting // if dry, soak in warm water for 15 minutes, then drain and pat dry))
¼ cup organic cacao or cocoa powder, plus more for rolling ((or sub carob for chocolate-free / caffeine-free))
3 tbsp hemp seeds
¼ cup roughly chopped raw walnuts
1 ½ tbsp almond butter ((creamy salted // or sub other nut or seed butter of choice))
1 pinch sea salt ((use more or less depending on saltiness of nut butter))
¼ tsp vanilla extract
Toppings to roll them in e.g. cocoa powder, coconut, icing sugar

Ingredient units

To a food processor add pitted dates, cocoa or cacao powder, hemp seeds, walnuts, almond butter (or other nut/seed butter), salt, and vanilla.Note: If you don’t have a food processor, you can try using a blender, but dates can be notoriously tough for blenders due to their sticky nature, so use a low speed if possible and pulse instead of blending.
Pulse until the mixture is well blended and starts to clump together (~30 seconds - 1 minute). If it’s too dry or crumbly and it doesn’t stick together when pressed between two fingers, add more nut butter or pitted dates (just ensure your dates are sticky and fresh, or it will only further dry out the mixture.)
Scoop out 1 ½ Tbsp amounts (we love this scoop) and gently roll into balls. As the original recipe is written, ~14 balls.
Enjoy immediately as is, or roll in extra cocoa, cacao, or carob powder for an extra chocolaty exterior. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks, or in the freezer up to 1 month (often longer). Let come close to room temperature before enjoying for best texture (in our opinion).