Whole 30 Cocoa Energy Bites

This Cooking Light recipe fits the bill for Whole 30, which is pretty rare to find when not specifically looking for Paleo recipes. (For pure Whole 30, omit the vanilla or replace it with vanilla bean seeds or powder.) I made these, and they're hard to resist. They taste like chocolate, which alone makes them worth eating when doing Whole 30. Now, my caveat is that if you're not trying to eat more healthy, natural foods, these aren't going to compete with a truly delicious truffle. If you're aiming for a more healthy snack that still feels like a treat, then give these a try. Here's how I adapted the recipe for these tasty bites.

Whole 30 Cocoa Energy Bites
1/2 cup hazelnuts
12 whole Medjool dates
2/3 cup almond butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 Tbsp. water
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake nuts 10 minutes, stirring once. Cool 10 minutes. Rub off as much of the skins as possible. Blend the nuts until they are coarse crumbs. Reserve some for rolling the balls, and leave the rest in the blender. Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender, and process until smooth. Roll the sticky mixture into small balls, and roll in reserved nuts. (It's OK if you don't have enough nuts to coat all your balls.) Chill until firm, about 30 minutes, and store in the refrigerator. Makes 20-30 balls, depending upon the size.