By the end of November I am always hyper-aware that Christmas is coming. Some of you might gasp, but I have begun my Christmas baking. I’ve been trying to come up with vegan, nut free treats to replace store-bought boxed chocolates. When I was a kid, my mom used to make peanut butter balls. They were delicious. This is my take on what I recall of a favourite Christmas treat. They are vegan, unbaked, nut, free, and super tasty. I could hardly keep the kids (and me) out of the batter while I was shaping the balls. The combination of soy nut butter, maple syrup, chocolate, and nutty hemp hearts kept everyone going back for “just one more.” They are made with bran and wheat germ, giving them a healthy dose of fibre. I can’t wait to share these with my family at Christmas. I just hope they survive over the next month in the freezer; I’ll bet they would be delicious frozen! Yum, yum, yum! Makes 24 tablespoon sized balls.
Ingredients
1 cup nut butter (I used soy nut, but you could use peanut, cashew, almond, etc.)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 cup oat bran
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup hemp hearts
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips (try PC The Decadent Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips) or chopped dates
1/2 cup shredded coconut
Directions
In a food processor, blend together the nut butter and maple syrup. Add the oat bran, wheat germ, hemp hearts, and chopped dates and blend until it has a stiff, dough-like consistency. You can either roll the dough into 14 individual orbs and then roll them in coconut and chill, or spread the dough onto a square pan and sprinkle with coconut, chill, and cut into squares.
Morsels Minus 