Choc Coconut Balls

As a child I grew up eating my mums special home made golf balls (some people call them rum balls, oat balls, bliss balls, date balls, etc.) which I used to love as a child but could no longer have since going vegan as her recipe contained condensed milk so I decided to try and make some of my own. They taste almost exactly the same as my mums which just goes to show that you don't need things to like milk, eggs and butter to have delicious, tasty snacks. This recipe is super easy and quick which is great for those of you who are super busy and don't usually have the time to bake for 3 hours. I got the inspiration for this recipe from Bonny Rebecca's Carbolicious ebook although I did switch out and change a lot of the ingredients to make it my own.

Ingredients
1 cup of rolled oats 

7-8 medjoul dates (pitted)

1 table spoon of cocoa powder (feel free to switch this out for cacao powder if you would like a healthier alternative)

1 table spoon of rice malt syrup (you could also use agave syrup, maple syrup. Basically you want something to sweeten it)
desiccated coconut (to roll in)

Method 

1. Put all of the ingredients into a food processor and blend until well combined but not too gooey. If your mixture is too dry after blending then you can always add a dash of milk or some more rice malt syrup. 

2. Use your hands to roll the mixture into balls and then roll into desiccated coconut. If you don't like coconut then you could always leave them plain or roll them into something else like cocoa powder, crushed nuts or even drizzle some melted chocolate over the top.

3. Pop all the balls into a container and then into the fridge to set and voila! If you prefer them to be squishy and gooey then feel free to skip this step.