Brownie Protein Truffles

The holidays are upon us, and with all the parties, gatherings, and special occasions, most of us are going to be cooking and baking like nobody’s business. This recipe is not only easy and fun to make with the kids, it’s also a healthy snack for a holiday to-do amongst all the fat-laden, empty calorie goodies out there.

This no-bake recipe is from Busy But Healthy, and it’s pretty adaptable to suit your family’s dietary needs. It uses whey protein powder, but soy protein powder stands in perfectly fine. The nuts and dried fruit possibilities are endless with this one, and make for some interesting combinations.

My daughter and I used peanuts, almonds, cashews, raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, peanut butter chips, and chocolate chips. In order to make this an affordable recipe for our family, we purchased a 5 oz package of Great Value Dried Mixed Berries for $2.98. It had cranberries, cherries, and blueberries. We also bought an 8 oz can of mixed nuts for $2.00. If you’ve ever looked at the bags of individual dried fruits, and the selection of nuts, you know how expensive they are. Doing it this way gave us a variety of fruits and nuts, saved us money, and gave us plenty left over for other recipes.

The kids loved this snack, and I just know you will too.

So, let’s get "cooking!"

Pick out a variety of nuts, dried fruits, chocolate chips, coconut, seeds, and seasonal cookie/cake decorations. Chop the nuts and larger dried fruits. My Chief Assistant, my daughter Megan, loved helping with this. She wanted to do all of the nuts, but then I wouldn’t have had much to do!

Mix together the dough for the truffles. It starts out looking like it’ll be too dry, but have faith, it does come together. ;-)

Scoop out using a 1 ¾ oz scoop.

We scooped a bunch out onto our cutting boards, then rolled them. We then took the balls of dough and rolled them into nuts or pressed dried fruits or chocolate chips into them, then rolled them into nuts.

Some combinations we made: cherry chocolate chip, cherry almond, and raisins and peanuts (like a Chunky candy  bar). Others we rolled in plain cashews or peanuts, and peanut butter chips. Oh, and we rolled some in assorted Christmas jimmies and sprinkles.

Place on parchment paper on a sheet pan. Store in a container in the fridge. If they make it that long. ;-)

Enjoy! ~TMMF

Brownie Protein Truffles
    (makes about 30)

1 c whey protein, chocolate
1/2 c baking cocoa
1 c natural peanut butter
1/2 c honey
2 Tbl milk

Nuts, dried fruits, coconut, chocolate chips, jimmies, seeds

Each unadorned Truffle has approx.: Calories: 49, Fat: 2.7 g, Saturated fat: 0.5 g, Carbs: 5 g, Sugar: 0.3 g, Sodium: 12 mg, Fiber: 1 g, Protein: 4 g.

Check out Nuts.com for some other healthy snacks and recipes for this holiday season, including vegan and gluten free.