Tasty RV Eats -> Decadent Chocolate LÄRAballs
I was first introduced to LÄRAballs by our RV buddies Lu & Terry two years ago. They surprised us with these chocolate treats as a present and we were instantly hooked. Chocolaty, nutty, melt-in-your-mouth decadent -> these things feel like they should be really, really bad for you yet they’re made from healthy, simple, clean ingredients that are just sugary enough to satisfy your sweet tooth without sending your waistline into purgatory. Plus they are SO EASY to make! Since that time I’ve made them regularly for RV dinners with friends, as presents and as a treat for ourselves. Also since they are vegan, dairy-free, soy-free and gluten-free they have the added bonus of satisfying just about every dietary limitation out there (except for nut allergies!)
LÄRAballs are based on LÄRABAR®, the very popular (and rather expensive) bars that you find in upscale food stores. They are basically just fruit & nut bars typically almonds or walnuts with dates. To this very simple base you can add ALL kinds of combos of “extra” stuff such as chocolate, coconut, lime, chili, peanut butter, banana etc. This makes for literally hundreds of taste combos, if your let your imagination run wild. Many folks will cut the final mix into bar-shaped pieces to look like the commercial product, but when we got our treat from Lu she’d rolled them into balls which I really liked. This way they’re almost like truffles, just healthier, and you can pop one or two after dinner for desert without going too crazy.
The other thing about LÄRAballs, at least the way I make them, is that they’re not overly sweet. Most of the recipes you find online (like THESE) will use less nuts and many more dates than I do. But I’m more about getting an authentic, rich dark chocolate taste with just enough sweet to make it enticing. So, if you’re like me, you’ll enjoy the way I make them. On the other hand, if you have a heavy sweet tooth you’ll probably want to up the date to nut proportions. The recipe below is my “base” and the most basic one I make. I’ll typically add stuff to it (berries, lime, chili, rum, shredded coconut etc.) as the whim takes me.
Decadent Chocolate LÄRAballs
Total prep time ~20 mins
Ingredients
~3-4 cups of nuts (either almonds or walnuts or cashews or a mix!)
~10-12 Medjol dates (pitted)
1-2 tablespoons coconut oil
4 heaped tablespoons quality cocoa powder**
1 tsp vanilla extract
**I’m particular about my cocoa powder and try to use a quality powder that has not been alkali-treated. Alkali treatment of cocoa reduces the flavanols and antioxidant properties, which are what make it healthful. We’ve been very impressed with the Healthworks brand of cacao
Equipment Needed
The only piece of equipment needed here is a food processor. We’ve used the same food processor for years which is this very basic, very powerful Cuisinart DLC-2009CHB 9-cup. The size is big enough to manage just about anything we need, plus it chops super-fast and (in the years we’ve owned it) the blade has never dulled. It’s one of our favorite kitchen items, so much so that it made our top 5 list earlier this year. We carry it in our bedroom cupboard and use it while hooked up or boondocking.
Instructions
1/ Add nuts to food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
2/ Add remainder of ingredients and mix. Depending on how dry the ingredients are you’ll need to add ~1/4 cup or more of water to get the mix to come together. Use a spatula to spread out the mix & re-pulse/re-mix it a few times, so that all ingredients get well dispersed. The mix is ready when it “clumps” together in a big, sticky ball inside the food processor.
3/ Roll into bite-size balls and refrigerate for at least an hour. Serve and enjoy!!
You carry that big food processor in your coach? I thought we were going to have to leave ours behind…
YUP! We use it alot. It takes up quite a bit of space inside one of our cupboards, but we use it enough to make it worthwhile.
With kitchen items, my advice is that if it’s something you use alot, bring it along. Cooking in an RV is not really any different from cooking in a house.
Nina
Dates have such an interesting sex life, the very concept of dating was named after them.
Really??? I had no idea. What an interesting little piece of trivia.
Nina
Yes, and unlike potatoes, dates have no eyes. So dates were really good at blind dating.
Har har…..
Actually, the Sex Life of a Date is a classic short documentary at the Shields Date Farm in Indio, California. In the old original small theatre in the back of the store: and yes, the sex life of a date is very interesting. Makes one appreciate all the hard work, time, and water that goes into growing dates and I guess, the reason why they are expensive. Lots of free sample at Shields (and other interesting related products). Worth a stop!
Yup, that’s where I got the info from. And in fact if you click on the link in my blog post it takes you to the youtube version of that very same documentary.
Nina
OMG, these look, and sound, divine! I have a cheap and rarely used small food processor.
You can definitely make them in a smaller processor. You’ll just need to cut down the size of the recipe. Enjoy!
Nina
Thanks for the recipe. They look great, I’m sure Donna will want to make some – we keep an old food processor in our coach too.
Cool! Enjoy the recipe!
Nina
These look really yummy Nina and I’ll definitely be giving them a try. I find my little RV kitchen has not deterred me from making any meals or treats. As a matter of fact, my little RV oven has had more of a workout than my double oven in our custom sticks and bricks home ever did.
Same with us. We use our RV kitchen constantly. There is not a single thing we made back in our stix&brix days that we haven’t made in the RV.
Nina
Wow! These look delicious. I’ve made something similar in the past (BTW, I love this couples’ web site & food approach): http://www.nourishingmeals.com/2010/01/cinnamon-sunflower-truffles.html
I love the addition of the cocao–do you pronounce it Portlandia style or regular? I’m putting my Cuisinart food processor in the TT. I use it at least once a week for hummus & now these little delights! Thank you, Nina!
Very nice recipe. Cheers for posting!
Nina
^5, Healthworks! They spell it Portlandia style-cacao! Too funny!
I know…isn’t that funny? I actually had to double-check the spelling when I wrote the post ‘coz I thought I was seeing it wrong.
Nina
Cacao is the raw bean, which can be ground into a powder. Cocoa powder is cacao powder that has been roasted and processed (cleaned, sweetened, etc.)
And yet another thing I didn’t know. It’s a good thing we keep you around Doug.
Nina
Thank you, Doug. You learn something every day!
We have made these delicious melt in your mouth goodies many times until cholesterol numbers forbade coconut anything and nuts. As soon as they get back to 150, I’m making a batch for sure. We also carry our food processor with us in our 35′ Class A. It stays under the dinette seat. Wouldn’t be without it, the vitamix blender or the toaster oven. It’s real life after all. Great pictures, making my mouth water.
Yup, we probably have way more kitchen equipment than most, but cooking is one of our passions and we took it with us on the road.
Nina
Im not much of a baker, but you’ve got me salivating over here, Nina! I’m sure it’s good eats!
And best part is…no baking involved!
Nina
About how many balls would you say this recipe makes? I only have a two cup processor, so I’ll have to cut the recipe down, or make it in batches. These sound delicious!
Ah! Good question. I just counted the batch I made for the blog post yesterday and there were 27 nicely-sized balls (a few may have been eaten tee hee). So, say around 30?
Nina
I’ve been looking for this recipe but I forgot the name. I even broke down and bought a food processor because I wanted to start making these. Thank you!
Well I’m glad I was able to “find” it for you 🙂
Nina
I’m super-glad because I’ve been googling words like dates and balls and you get some pretty wild results with those keywords in a search. :-p
Oh, you made me laugh my dear!
What would you say the shelf life is, wondering if I can make them ahead for Christmas presents, keep in the fridge?
Now, that’s a darn good question. They don’t usually last more than a week at our house (simply because they get eaten) so I’d say a week for sure and I don’t see why 2 weeks wouldn’t be fine. There’s really not much in there that can “go bad”. The main reason we keep them in the fridge is so that they stay solid. Outside the fridge the coconut oil inside starts to melt and disintegrate the balls.
Nina
Mmmmm only thing missing from recipe is a snort of Rum!
I cannot deny that rum does occasionally make it into this recipe. It can be handily used instead of part of the water to get the mix to combine together 🙂
Nina
I often make Bourbon Balls for Christmas—Jack Daniel’s Balls.
Oh, dear, only you Nina would know about the sex life of dates!! :)) The Laraballs sound delicious! I’ve yet to try the avocado chocolate pudding but am going to one of these days!
The avocado recipe will go on the blog too at some point. It’s too good not to.
Nina
Lu made these for us. Must say they didn’t last long:)
Actually, this recipe is very similar to the bottom of the vegan brownie that is topped with your avocado pudding frosting that I got from Leigh.
Ooooo…sounds like a heavenly combo!
Nina
Looks wonderful and reminds me of the truffles I use to make…I do have one question though…why Vanilla essence in stead of vanilla extract?
Oh no reason at all. Vanilla extract is actually better! That’s a total typo on my part.
Nina
thanks…can’t wait to try it
I think these will be fantastic. I am wondering how these would taste using cacao powder instead of the slightly more processed cocoa powder?
Actually cacao powder is exactly what we used! I didn’t quite understand the difference between cocoa and cacao powder when I wrote the post (see above comments), but what we actually prefer and use is the less processed cacao powder.
Nina
Thanks, Nina. My partner is gluten free and sugar free, which can make cooking complicated at times. This looks great for her.
Yup, this should work for her. This recipe is gluten-free and there’s no added sugar, only the sugar that’s already naturally in the dates. If she’s really sensitive to sugar levels (e.g. she needs to watch her blood sugar levels) you can always reduce the number of dates in here and experiment with that. I’ve monitored my blood sugar after eating a few balls (usually after dinner) and have not seen a spike, but I know individual reactions can vary.
Nina
Yep, this is still one of my favorite little sweet treats! 🙂
I thank you for introducing them to me!
Nina
Yummers. Have to give this a try. Thanks