I’ve mentioned this before but I love all things peanut butter. I saw a recipe for these peanut butter bites and knew that I’d be making them. As usual though, I had to make a few changes. First, I don’t have a food processor. I suppose I could have tried doing it all in the vitamix blender but honestly the mess I envisioned made me shy away from the blender. I opted to run dates and walnuts through the grinder attachment of my mixer. I went with walnuts for a couple of reasons, 1) I had some in the freezer, I wanted to use up, and 2) almonds have a tendency to bind up the grinder for some reason. This worked really well for me, but if you have a food processor go for it.
Cocoa Peanut Butter Date Bites
- 4 ounces Dates, Pitted
- 4 ounces Walnuts
- 1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
- 1 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder
- Pinch of salt if your peanut butter is unsalted
Grind the dates and walnuts together and set aside.
In a small saucepan, combine the peanut butter and cocoa powder and heat just until everything is loose and combined. Remove from heat and stir in the ground nuts and dates until thoroughly combined.
Portion dough into small ball and place onto wax paper. Press with the tines of a fork as you would for a peanut butter cookie. Refrigerate until firm and enjoy. Keep uneaten bites in the fridge.
Both Jeff and I enjoyed these immensely. The cocoa flavor isn’t overpowering but it does add a nice bitterness to contrast the richness of the dates and peanut butter.
These are naturally gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, and depending on the peanut butter you use refined sugar-free. I use all natural peanut butter and would encourage you to do the same – you don’t need the extra sweetness here.
I have no doubt there are a million different combinations and flavors that would be yummy here. I think raisins would work just as well as dates, any nut butter would most likely work, carob powder instead of cocoa powder, etc. If you do try them and change it up let me know what you did please.
