I’ve been having trouble finding “healthy” treats in stores – treats that do not contain any refined sugars, artificial sugars, or sugars with a high glycemic index (GI). So I figured it was easier just to make my own treats at home.
The trick to making a healthy treat is to use a healthy sweetener. This way you’ll get to enjoy the sweet flavor of the treat without worrying about a breakout or uneven skin tone.
My personal favorite natural sweeteners are agave syrup and xylitol.
Agave syrup is made from cacti in Mexico. It is a fructose sugar but it has a low GI. If you’re buying agave, make sure you opt for the “blue” agave. It’s the best quality and has the lowest GI. The great thing about agave is how natural it is. It’s kind of like eating honey.
Xylitol is processed but it has an incredibly low GI so it will not adversely affect your skin at all. It’s also great for your teeth! Xylitol is made from a few different natural sources, including the cob of corn and tree barks.
Stevia is also a fantastic (non-breakout) sweetener that you can easily cook with at home. Stevia is the best sweetener to use if you have an overgrowth of Candida, because it will not feed the Candida bacteria like all other natural sugars do. I haven’t had much experience with stevia yet because I don’t like the taste, but when I start the Body Ecolody Diet next year, stevia is the only allowed sugar on the diet so I’ll learn how to use it then!
Chocolate Almond Fudge Balls
This is one of my favorite treats to make at home. It’s not cooked so you’re getting the added nutrition of a raw food. Keep in mind that these chocolate balls are not as sweet as Cadbury’s or Hershy’s, but they’re still incredibly addictive and I love them! They have a strong chocolatey-almond taste so you’ll need to love both chocolate and almonds 
Makes 24
2 1/4 cups of raw almonds
2 Tablespoons of Tahini
2 Tablespoons of agave syrup
2 Tablespoons of shredded coconut
1 Tablespoon of coconut oil or coconut butter
5 dates
1 Tablespoon of cacao power
Loving preparation
- Grind the almonds in a blender or coffee grinder to a powder. It’s okay if there are still large almond chunks. Sometimes I like to leave almond chunks on purpose to add a bit of texture.
- Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix with your hands.
- Mold into 24 round balls. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving.
13 responses ↓
That’s it you got it right !! My choco balls were very much the same and the ingredients seem familiar oooohhhh I am alllll excited I am gonna make them soon only i’ll try adding goji berries
mmmmmm thanks fran for the recipe !
Hi Fran, what a great recipe!! But although you are using a low GI sweetener, the dates have an incredibly high GI, so they might cause problems???
Wow these look tasty! I love easy no bake treats! My boyfriend and I made chocolate chip cookies the other day (partly gluten free, less sugar than recipe called for), and I didn’t even like them very much! And I used to be a cookie hound a few months ago. Also the next day I had a couple of small pimples crop up. I am sooo happy I drastically reduced my processed sugar intake, I feel better. I have a tablespoon of raw blue agave nectar in my smoothie every day but that usually it. Although I still do crave something homemade that is sweet and chocolatety every now and again, so I’m going to visit my health food store and try these babies!
Rosy- There aren’t too many dates in this recipe so as long as you’re not eating them as your main meal I’m sure you’ll be okay. It will only be a problem if you have a bad overgrowth of Candida.
Fran, what an amazing recipe!!! I’m sooooo excited!! I’m gonna try making them this weekend as I have to buy almonds , tahini and dates!!
Thanks again Fran!
I actually really like stevia in most things. It makes a lot of soy products better tasting to me, such as soy pudding. (Even though I have a slight allergic reaction to soy so rarely eat it.) Stevia has been awesome in pretty much everything I’ve used it in.
Fran, Whats a good organic/natural Chocolate/cocoa that has mint in it?
I just bought myself a Hershey chocolate bar is says 50% cacao with mint flavour and its the best dark chocolate i have ever eaten.
I was wonderng if theres any organic or cacao 100% with mint in it? I’m loving chocolates with a mint flavour and rather have the 100% cacao ones since its more beneficial with all the vitamins and minerals in it.
I bought myself the Cacao nibs and they were pretty bitter i couldn’t stand the taste.
Jules- That’s awesome, I’m going to learn to love Stevia too because it’s such a good option.
Jon- Chocolate that maintains it’s health properties with the cacao bean usually tastes a little different. Not bad, just different to the chocolate we’re used to. So it can take some time to get used to, just like learning to love a bitter flavor.
You might like Green & Black. It’s not a health chocolate but it is organic and fair trade so a much better choice than Hershy’s (and in my opinion tastes better). You can find Green & Black in Wholefoods and health stores.
For healthy chocolate, I did find one in a health food store in NYC that I wish I kept the name of. It was very similar in look and taste to cacao berry clariy, but it was mint flavored (they had a few different flavors). So my advise is to just drop into whatever health store you pass and see what they have.
Hey,
To make this recipe completely guilt-free, use certified Fair Trade cacao powder! : )
An old-ish article, I know but I just made these on the weekend and they are so delish! I was almost out of fresh dates and only had 4 so I added 3 prunes. I also only had 1 plus 1/3 cups of raw activated almonds so I added activated lightly roasted almonds to make up the rest, and I used 1/2 of organic shredded coconut.
Next time I will use half agave and half stevia – I’m a huge fan of stevia and have been using it for as long as I can remember…
Also, I wouldn’t worry too much about fresh dates being high GI as they are high alkaline and very high in fibre and these are such good things for skin/inflammation/acidity issues.
Yum! I tried these today. They were so yummy. Mine did not look exactly like yours and they were sometimes hard to keep in a ball. They seem to not be moist enough….and would crumble. Any suggestions? I am not sure what I did. Nevertheless, they were wonderful!
Soo good and easy to make. I didn’t add dates because I don’t like them and i didn’t have coconut butter. They’re dryer and crumbly, but they still taste amazing!
Wow,thanks Fran,I found your website thourgh Youtube,and have been going on it for about six months now.I love all of your videos and articals,they help SO much,I’m 14 and had acne since I was 12,my skin is healing up,I’m so happy!!.I try to eat 90/10% like you say,and it really works,I used to be like 98/2%,I’ve been a vegetarian for two years now,and I think now that I have more seeds and nuts in my diet and I drink WAY more water,I try to drink half my body weight witch is 50 oz.Oh and thank you Fran!.I’m going to try this,all I need from the store is almonds!.
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