One of my favorites things about Christmas time is all the yummy sweet treats. The cookies, candy, cakes, and other wonderful baked goods we all cram into our faces this time of year. I love all that stuff!
However, ever since I started cooking clean…most of the stuff is just too sweet for me. How sad is that!?!?! I used to be the kind of person who could eat baked goods for breakfast. While in college I worked for 4 years at a dessert bar…and I will admit…on more then one occasion cake was my dinner (and it was awesome! I mean, I was in college, I didn’t care what I ate). Now that I have admitted my love of all things sweet, I am sure you can understand why I am sad that most yummy Christmas goodies are just too sweet for me now.
After pouting about this for say…oh a day or two…I decided to remedy this situation. My first solution…a clean eating version of Buckeyes! Now if you aren’t familiar with Buckeyes…I am sorry to inform you that I can’t really tell you much about their history or why we make them…but I can tell you they are yummy. I was born in the Midwest and I know that Ohio State are the Buckeyes…but that’s all I got. Sorry. Please don’t send hate mail. I love the candy and am making them…isn’t that enough?!?!
My clean version of the traditional buckeye candy is delicious. I replace the peanut butter with creamy almond butter, which is divine. To make it even better I dip the almond butter balls in dark chocolate, that has just the hint of coconut. These little balls of almondy, yummy, chocolaty joy are amazing. Trust me…one taste, and you will never go back to the originals!
Local Ingredient: Local Honey (purchased at Whole Foods, which had a local product section).
Put the almond butter in a small bowl.
Add the vanilla extract.
Then add the honey.
Mix until well blended. Put in the freezer for 30 mins.
Remove from the freezer and form into tablespoon sized balls. Put back in the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until balls are hard.
In a double boiler add the dark chocolate and coconut oil.
Heat until ingredients are melted. Remove from heat.
Remove the almond butter balls from the freezer. Dip int he chocolate.
Place back on the parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Repeat for the remaining almond butter balls. Place back in the freezer for 1 hour. Remove 15 minutes before serving.
Ingredients
2 cups almond butter
4 tablespoons honey
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
16 oz dark chocolate
1 tablespoon coconut oil
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine the almond butter, honey, and vanilla extract.Mix until well incorporated.
- Place the mixture in the freezer for 30 mins.
- Remove from the freezer and form into tablespoon sized balls. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet. Place back in the freezer for 30 mins to 1 hour, until hardened.
- Melt the chocolate and coconut oil over a double boiler. Once melted remove from the heat.
- Remove almond butter balls from the freezer. Using a toothpick or skewer, dip the balls in the melted chocolate, being sure to coat only once.
- Allow excess chocolate to drip off, and place the chocolate dipped balls back on the baking sheet.
- Repeat process for the remaining almond butter balls.
- Place back in the freezer for at least one hour, to allow chocolate shell to harden completely.
- Remove the balls from the freezer 15 minutes before serving. Serve chilled, so that they chocolate does not melt.
I am drooling…
Will definitely try these babies for Christmas!!!!!
That’s Great! They were so good I couldn’t stop eating them. You will have to let Sara and I know how they turn out!!!
these look so decadent!!! for some reason, the only time i’ve eaten buckeyes was on vacation in west virginia. my family and i would always go to this little touristy gift center and they sold these along with those maple sugar leaf candies. i wanna make these to have something to nibble on. i hate being in the mood for something sweet and then not having something ready in the freezer.
Thanks! I kept them in the freezer and snacked on them all week…it worked great. They thaw in just a couple of minutes, so they were perfect when I was craving something sweet. I hope you enjoy!!!