These don’t look like much, but they’re the perfect snack to have in your kitchen or bring on the go when you’re craving something chocolatey, sweet, gooey and crunchy all in one bite. Like everything I make pretty much, these chocolate bubble balls are super simple to make and easy to adapt depending on what you’re craving or what you have on hand.

Although I believe that all foods can be part of a healthy diet, I can’t conform to the movement that a food is the sum of it’s parts (a.k.a “if it fits your macros”). This approach has it’s place, and I think is a good first step in educating yourself about nutrition. But it overemphasises the role of calories and macronutrients and undervalues micronutrients, fibre and functional ingredients, such as phytochemicals.

Always make sure to enjoy your favourite foods, whether they’re “healthy” or not. But for an everyday basis, I love making recipes that give me that gooey chocolatey hit I’m looking for, packaged along with a good amount of fibre, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals.

As I’ve said, these chocolate bubble balls are fully adaptable – so I’ve made these several times, each time using slightly different ingredients. Make it your own and adapt to what sounds good to you!

Chocolate Bubble Balls

Recipe by Katie Wilson at Salt & HoneyCourse: Sweet TreatsDifficulty: Easy

Servings

16-20

Balls

Prep time

20

minutes

These “bubbly” balls offer the perfect combination of gooey, sweet chocolate, but with that texture and crunch you’re craving. They’re great as an afternoon snack to boost those energy levels, or to satisfy your after-dinner sweet tooth. Based on whole ingredients, they also provide fibre, healthy fats and micronutrients, so you can make sure you’re looking after your body as well as your taste buds! Make sure to adapt to your own likes and taste preferences!

Ingredients

• 2 cups puffed rice

• 1 cup of one or combination of: buckwheat groats, nuts, seeds, dried fruit*

• 1/3 cup cacao nibs

• 4 tbsp natural peanut butter

• 2 tbsp maple syrup

• 2 pitted medjool dates

• 1/2 tsp vanilla

• 20g melted butter (approx 1.5tbsp) – can substitute for coconut oil

• 1/4 cup cacao powder

• Milk of choice

Directions

• Place the puffed rice, cacao nibs, and chosen nuts/seeds/dried fruit and buckwheat groats into a medium bowl and stir to evenly distribute
• In a food processor, place the peanut butter, pitted dates, vanilla, melted butter and cacao powder and blitz until combined and it resembles a paste.
• Transfer the above mixture into the bowl along with your dry ingredients and begin to carefully mix through. Don’t worry if some of your rice pops are crushed in the process! If needed, add a splash of milk (a tbsp or so at a time), to help loosen the mixture and make it easier to stir through – don’t overdo it though as this will cause it to become too loose to stick together and roll into balls!
• Eventually the mixture will come together and all of your dry ingredients should be coated. Begin rolling the mixture into bite sized balls. It isn’t the cleanest process, but I find doing this with damp hands helps. If the mixture is too sticky to roll into balls, it may be easier to make them into bite-sized bars instead by pressing the mixture firmly into a lined baking tray, allowing to set in the fridge for a couple hours, and cutting into small squares.

Additional Notes

• * my favourites include flaxseeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. Chopped almonds, hazelnuts or peanuts, or other seeds like white sesame seeds would also work really well. For dried fruit, you can’t go wrong with currants in my opinion, but you could switch things up with more interesting options such as chopped dried mango. I tend to do approx 1/2 cup buckwheat, and the other 1/2 cup or so a combination of nuts, seeds and/or dried fruit.