In lieu of granola

I found some recipes that screamed "MAKE ME" this week. I don't know about you all, but when I hear that demanding inner voice regarding food......I listen!

As part of my Sunday chores, I made two different treats in ball form.

First, I made oaties from Heather Eats Almond Butter. Something about these just look comforting. I'm a sucker for anything that I can deem comfort food (and that's cross cultural for me....I don't limit comfort food to the foods I was raised on in the south....oh no).


The only tweaks made to the recipe for me was that I used my own nut butter (a combo of peanut, almond, and sunflower seeds), went half brown rice syrup and half maple for the syrup quota, and my mix-in was chopped dates in oat flour. I also didn't roll them into balls while still hot....so they're a bit more cookie looking that hers are. They are, however, DE-lish! Totally scrumptious. Honestly, they exceeded my expectations.


Next, more ball action with the Kelsey balls from Bites + Bowls! I doubled the batch since my processor is an 11 cup model and I didn't think it would appreciate the small quantities recommended on Kelsey's site. I did the date and peanuts, as is standard, and added half a cup of 56% Callebaut semi sweet chips and half a cup of unsweetened coconut flakes both chopped individually till somewhat granular. I mention the name of the chocolate chips because, seriously, they're the most silky chips I've ever had. Plus, apparently that brand has a special process that makes it higher in antioxidants, or at least that's what the poster at Central Market said. Good enough for me!

Once everything was chopped and mixed, I set to making these as spherical as possible. It required a lot of squishing the ingredients together. The crumbles did not want to stick to one another without ample encouragement to do so! I blame this on the fact that I had to settle for bagged whole dates instead of the plumper, juicer bulk bin dates. I won't try this again with bagged dates, even whole ones. It's just no substitute for the quality you can get in bulk.


These balls had an amazing texture though. They were chewy and crumbly and melty all at once. The flavor, however, missed the mark just a touch. I think it needed a little kick of something for me. I would say cinnamon, but I cannot cook with it since my husband is allergic. So, his idea was to put cayenne in it! That would give them that Mexican chocolate flare. I'm excited to make another batch with my husband's idea. Till then, I think I'll be just fine with these babies in tow!


I'm so glad that I spent Sunday morning making these so that I get to eat them all week long. Yeah, I've got it rough sometimes. ;)

Have a ballin' Monday! And if it turns out rotten, go home and make these balls. You'll feel better, promise. Or just giggle at the number of times I managed to say balls. I did.