These Hazelnut Chocolate Balls are healthy hazelnut energy balls made with a delicious Ferrero Rocher flavor and made with wholesome ingredients. They are perfect, healthy, clean treats after dinner and great pre-workout energy bites. Bonus, these healthy hazelnut energy balls are also vegan, dairy-free, paleo, refined sugar-free, and gluten-free.
Ingredients and Substitutions
All you need to make delicious healthy hazelnut protein balls are a food processor and a few ingredients:
- Hazelnuts – Raw or roasted for extra flavors.
- Pitted Medjool Dates – You can also use other types of dates, but Medjool are my favorite for their texture and sweetness.
- Coconut Oil – Since coconut oil is solid at room temperature, it holds the ball together.
- Vanilla Extract – for flavor.
- Melted Dark Chocolate – I love 85% Lindt dark chocolate, but any dark chocolate from 70% cocoa makes this recipe delicious.
How To Make Hazelnut Chocolate Balls
These hazelnut energy balls are very easy to make.
- This is optional, of course, but roasting the hazelnuts enhances their flavor and makes these chocolate hazelnut energy balls even more delicious. If you are looking for a Nutella-like flavor, this is a must! Roast the nuts at low temperatures. The best is 320°F (160°C) which prevents the degradation of healthy fats in nuts.
- Lay the nuts on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and roast for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Then, cool the nuts down for a few minutes and add in a food processor with melted chocolate, melted coconut oil, soft pitted dates, and vanilla.
- Blend at high speed for 2-3 minutes. The time depends on the strength of your food processor. The dough is ready when it sticks well together, and it’s easy to roll into balls. If too dry, add a teaspoon of water or almond milk to the batter and process again.
- For all energy ball recipes, it’s always better to refrigerate the dough in the fridge for 10 minutes. This makes the dough much easier to roll into balls, less sticky to the fingers.
- Scoop out about one tablespoon of dough and roll the mixture into a ball between your hands. If you like, stick a raw hazelnut in the center of each ball or a dollop of nut butter.
- Place each formed hazelnut energy bite onto a plate covered with parchment paper.
Decorating The Balls
You can obviously eat these hazelnuts chocolate truffles plain or rolled into:
- Melted dark chocolate to create a crunchy chocolate shell.
- Cacao powder – to look like a holiday truffle, perfect for a vegan Christmas dessert.
- Chopped nuts – roll the balls into chopped peanuts or hazelnuts.
Storage Instructions
You can store these chocolate hazelnut balls for up to 10 days in an airtight container in the fridge. Energy balls freeze really well. Placed them in a box and thaw them at room temperature for a few hours before eating.
Frequently Asked Questions
This happens if your Medjool dates are dry, not fresh, or you used another kind of date that has less soft flesh. Soak the dry dates in boiling water for 2 minutes if that’s the case. Drain, squeeze and add them to the recipe. If you want to fix an already made energy ball batter that is too dry, add a liquid like water, almond milk, or lemon juice. Blend to incorporate and keep adding 1 teaspoon at a time until the dough sticks well together and forms balls.
More Energy Balls Recipes
I love to create lots of vegan energy balls for our week. It’s a healthy, clean treat that you can enjoy any time of the day and is also perfect for filling kids’ lunchboxes with nutrient-dense sweet snacks. Below I listed my favorite energy bite recipe for you to try.
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Hazelnut Chocolate Balls
Ingredients
- ½ cup Medjool Dates - about 8 dates, 4.7 oz
- 1 cup Hazelnuts
- 1 oz Dark Chocolate - 85% Lindt or vegan dark chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil - or Cocoa Butter
Optional
- 1 teaspoon Almond Milk - if the dough is too dry
- 10 Hazelnuts - to place in the center of each ball
- 3 oz Dark Chocolate - to drizzle/dip balls
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay the hazelnuts on the tray.
- Bake for 10 minutes, until fragrant and roasted. Remove from the oven, cool down for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place dark chocolate and coconut oil in a small mixing bowl and melt in the microwave or in a saucepan.
- In the bowl of a food processor, add roasted lukewarm hazelnuts, pitted Medjool dates, vanilla extract melted chocolate/coconut oil.
- Process for 2-3 minutes. The time depends on your food processor's power. You know it's ready when it forms a sticky batter that comes together. If too dry, blend in an extra teaspoon of almond milk or water until the dough sticks together.
- Refrigerate the dough for 10 minutes in a bowl.
- Roll 10 balls, placing a hazelnut in the center of each ball, if desired. See my pictures above to see my technique to do that. Place the formed balls on a plate covered with parchment paper.
- Decorate the energy balls with a drizzle of melted chocolate and extra chopped hazelnuts or serve plain.
Storage
- Store up to 10 days in the fridge in an airtight container.
any substitute for hazelnuts?
Any other nuts works like almonds, or cashews.
I love this recipe. I have made it twice and today I am making a DOUBLE batch and I am going to freeze some. It’s healthy a great snack and it tastes great. Easy to make.