Chocolate Covered Strawberry Nut Truffles

A little kitchen experimenting tonight. On a couple of occasions we have enjoyed eating these at potlucks with our paleo/primal friends.  We have affectionatly named them "Blueberry Crack." The recipe is Nutty Blueberry Protein Balls from The Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals.

I am pretty ignorant in regards to the internet and content and plagerism, but I really don't like to copy recipes right out of someone's book and share them unless they have posted them online already.  I couldn't find a Mark's Daily Apple link on these, but Nom Nom Paleo did a post on these and took some good pictures of the process.  She is awesome by the way.  Check her out.

http://nomnompaleo.com/post/5537348393/primal-blueprint-nutty-strawberry-protein-balls

I wanted to make something similar, but with chocolate.  I also wanted to use up some of the freeze dried strawberries that I had a huge can of.  So, I was thinking along the lines of chocolate covered strawberries. Those are pretty delicious. Here is a picture of the final result, 2 dozen of these are firming up in my freezer right now.  I have a destination in mind for them tomorrow.  I will see if I have any honest taste testers. 

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Nut Truffles

8 dates, pitted

2 cups walnuts

1 cup macadamia nuts

4 Tbsp coconut oil

1 cup strawberries

1/2 cup coconut (shredded or flour)

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup cocoa nibs, ground into a crumbly powder

Using food processor:

Process dates until a paste forms into a clump. Less than 1 minute.

Add nuts until finely chopped, about 30 seconds.

Drizzle in coconut oil while blade runs. Stop and scrape sides if needed.

Scrape batter into bowl.

Stir in strawberries and coconut.

Form batter into round balls, roll in the cocoa nibs.

Refrigerate.

You have to use a little common sense on these, I think I put too much coconut oil in and my batter was a little wet.  I just sprinkled a few teaspoons of coconut flour in (it is very absorbant) and then it turned into a nice big clump in the food processor.  That is what you are looking for. 

There are a zillion recipes like this online.  If you don't have dates you can use prunes.  You can switch up the kind of nuts or fruit you use. You can add cocoa or cinnamon.  You can roll the balls in shredded coconut, chocolate, sesame seeds, etc...  Just stick with the basic ratios and it should come out alright.

These are an awesome snack as they are full of protein and healthy fats to keep you full, but a little sweet like candy.  Great for taking along to a potluck, camping, or an outing to the park with the kids.  Everybody likes these types of paleo treats and anybody that can run a food processor can make these.