Day Four: Favorite Things-Cinnamon Dusted Truffles-AKA Energy Balls

Cinnamon Dusted Truffles

Around here I refer to these as energy balls but truffle comes closer to the decadence of these little treats.  Packed with protein and good fats, these are my go to snack. Plus the Cacao is packed with magnesium and iron.  If you are new to Cacao you can find it at places like Whole Foods, the Healthy Home Market if you live in Charlotte, NC, or likely at your local health food type store.  The recipe below is my adaptation from a recipe I found two years ago on the blog The Byrdfeeder.

I hope you enjoy!!

Cinnamon Dusted Truffles

Yield:  35-40 Truffles

2 cups chopped raw walnuts
1/2 cup raw cacao nibs
1 cup organic raisins
4 tablespoons Almond Butter (salted or unsalted)
1 pinch fine sea salt

2-3 tablespoons of cinnamon (for coating)

Mix all the ingredients together in a food processor.  I don’t have a food processor myself so I mix the nuts, raisins, cacao and sea salt in small batches in the blender and then hand adding in the almond butter in a medium bowl.

After combining all the ingredients, I then hand roll the mixture into quarter sized balls and place on a baking sheet covered in wax paper.  Once all the truffles have been rolled I fill a small ramekin with the 2-3 tablespoons of cinnamon and roll one truffle at a time, gentling shaking the ramekin back and forth causing the truffle to roll round and round and coat itself in cinnamon.  The truffles will begin to darken to a nice espresso color as the oils from the truffle combines with the cinnamon.
 
Place all truffles back on the wax paper lined cookie sheet and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes. 

I then divide the truffles into two containers; one for the refrigerator and one for the freezer.  These keep in the refrigerator for approximately 2 weeks and in the freezer for 6 months, although to be honest I doubt they will hang around your house that long!
If the mix is to wet you can add more nuts to get a drier consistency.

If the mix is too dry you can add more almond butter.

If you are not fond of cinnamon, cocoa powder or fine shredded coconut are also wonder coating choices.

Based on the nutritional data on the packages of ingredients I used, I broke down the nutritional information below.

Food	Calories	Fat	Carbs	Protein	Sugars
Walnuts	1600	160	24	40	0
Raisins	1040	0	248	8	232
Cacao	520	48	40	16	0
Almond Butter	760	68	24	32	8
Total	3920	276	336	96	240
# Energy Balls	33	33	33	33	33
Nutrition Per Each	119	8	10	3	7

In-Process Photos

Ingredients

 

Before Processing

 

Ready for the Cinnamon