Chocolate Coconut Cheesecake Fat Balls

First and foremost, if you would like to double up on your recipe-time fun and make the below into a drinking game, take a sip every time I say balls.

I've been obsessed with date balls lately. Sunflower seed date balls, matcha date balls, pumpkin date balls, what can I say? I love balls. After following countless recipes from fellow bloggers and websites, I thought I'd finally take some balls into my own hands (LOL).
 


Not going to lie, my intention here was cookies and cream fat balls. While using many a-coconut ingredients, this turned into something different but equally delicious. Bonus Jonas - this recipe is vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free. If that's not your jam, it can be made non dairy-free (there will be no gluten, sorry not sorry).

I would like to point out that many people see sweets/snacks such as these and think 'oh, it's only healthy ingredients, I can have five and it's better than having a cookie!' Now I am by no means a nutritionist, but this is what I can share from personal experience of years and years of being influenced by different diets and eating mannerisms. Moderation is key (may be cliché, but oh so true). If you are ravenous and want five date balls, I'm not stopping you. But if you want a cookie, have a damn cookie. If you want five cookies, have five cookies. Just don't have five cookies everyday. These balls are quite caloric (going to include basic nutrition facts below) and while I am anti-counting calories, the nutrition facts per ball may startle you. While high in calories, don't forget they are high in nutrients and made predominately of whole, natural foods. Balance, bitches. Namaste.

The below recipe makes 20 balls. Won't include prep time because I find recipe prep time is never accurate anyway.

Ingredients:

Balls:

• 1 cup gluten-free oatmeal (steel cut or rolled, either work)
• 1 cup dates (soaked, drained, pitted)
• 1/2 cup almond butter (or nut butter of choice)
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2-3 tbsp water
• 1/2 cup DF chocolate chips (melted, to coat your balls)

Filling:

• 1/2 cup cream cheese (this recipe uses DF Daiya cream cheese, can use regular cream cheese)
• 1/3 cup shredded coconut or coconut butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

1. Starting with the filling - place shredded coconut in a food processor and blend until very fine. Add cream cheese and vanilla and blend until it forms an even consistency. (If you're using coconut butter, place all ingredients in food processor and blend). Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate while making the balls.
2. In a food processor, add oats, dates, almond butter, cocoa powder, vanilla, and water and blend. Depending on the strength of your food processor, you can start with blending the oatmeal, almond butter, and cocoa powder first, then adding the remaining ingredients. Set aside.
3. Once the filling has chilled for about 15 minutes, take it out and form the paste into tiny balls (about a dime's circumference). Place the filling balls in the freezer; this will make it easier later on. 
4. Form the same number of balls out of the date mixture that you have of the filling (dur). These should be about the size of large gumballs. As gross as wet hands may feel, it will make it easier to roll balls out of the date mixture. Another tip is to form the balls the same way you would prepare Turkish meatballs with your grandmother. Oh, you didn't do that as a kid? Spoon out some mixture into the palm of your hand and squeeze like a stress ball, with the strength of a mildly stressed person. These don't have to be perfectly round, since you are going to mush them up soon.
5. After the filling has been in the freezer for about 20 minutes, it's go time. I say this because the filling will soften rather quickly, and you want them firm (LOL) to make the process easier. To stuff yo balls (LOLOL) press your thumb into the date ball, place a filling ball in the indent, then work the dates mixture like play-doh around the filling. 
6.  Melt the chocolate chips (you can add a tiny bit of coconut oil while melting to make it a bit more liquidy). Dunk dem balls until they're coated. I have no tips for you here, because I am absolutely horrendous at dipping anything into chocolate. Place finished balls on a tray lined with wax paper and refrigerate until hardened.
7. ENJOY YO BALLS.

Nutrition per ball (this is an estimated calculation):

Calories: 140 | Carbs: 18g | Fat: 8g | Sugar: 11g | Protein: 3g

Hope y'all had a ball,