Quinoa chocolate bliss balls

I love bliss balls for a little burst of energy when you’re on the run. These ones feel extra decadent with real chocolate melted into them! The quinoa gives it an interesting texture and the raspberry gives it a flavour burst. If you don’t have raspberry powder, swap some of the water when cooking the quinoa for raspberries and the juice. Super yum. If you can’t have coconut (or just don’t like it!), you can coat them in sesame seeds, cocoa, or crushed nuts or seeds

These bliss balls are a great combination of complex carbohydrates, fats and protein, as well as that simple carbs from the chocolate to give you that instant energy boost.

Complex carbs give you longer lasting energy and come from the quinoa, as well as the nuts and seeds. These also contain loads of fibre (especially the chia seeds which have the highest amount of fibre per gram of any food we eat). Fibre is awesome for loads of things in the body including helping you feel full faster, keeping your bowels regular and feeding the good gut bacteria, which helps your mood and immune system. Winning!

Healthy fats are an important part of the diet, and in these bliss balls the healthy fats come from the nuts and seeds. Fats are an abundant source of energy, but are also important for keeping your hormones healthy, help you absorb and make fat based vitamins, support growth and protects your organs.

Protein is awesome in so many ways. It if necessary for growth and repair of the body, especially the muscles. Protein has the highest satiety of all the macronutrients, meaning it helps you feel satisfied after eating., and if we feel satisfied after eating we’re less likely to snack on the things that are less beneficial for our bodies. Protein is also essential for your immune system, and especially the way things have been the last few years, wouldn’t we all like to give our immune system a boost?!

Joy is also an important part of what we eat. To me joy comes in the form of fruit and chocolate. Especially berries!! Gotta have some joy in our food.

Ingredients

½ C dried quinoa, cooked and well drained
½ C ground almonds
½ C ground pumpkin and sunflower seeds
½ C dates
2T chia seeds
85g Whittakers dark choc, chopped
2 Tbsp Freeze dried raspberries
Dessicated coconut for coating

Method

Put all the ingredients except the chocolate and coating in a food processor and mix until the mixture is very fine and a good sticky consistency, and able to be rolled into balls
Gently melt the chocolate
Add the processed mixture to the chocolate. Combine and roll into balls. Put them in the fridge to cool. Roll in coconut or cocoa before serving if desired
Enjoy!!