Description
Gingerbread balls are perfect for when you want that classic gingerbread taste without any baking required. Soft, sticky gingerbread center with a crunchy dark chocolate shell. A favorite treat during the Holidays.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
for the batter
- 1 cup packed medjool dates, pitted
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons blanched almond flour
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1 to 1 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 3 tablespoons molasses
chocolate shell
- 8 ounces dark baking chocolate
- 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil
optional toppings
- ground cinnamon
- festive Christmas sprinkles
Instructions
- Soak the dates: Soak the dates in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- Prepare: Line a medium sized rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat. Set aside.
- Make the gingerbread batter: To a food processor add the drained dates and pulse until a paste or ball forms. Add the remaining gingerbread batter ingredients: the almond flour, salt, ginger, cinnamon cloves, allspice, and molasses. Pulse until everything is well combined. Taste and adjust flavors at this time.
- Freeze dough: Transfer the dough to a bowl to make scooping it into balls easier. Freeze the dough for 10 minutes.
- Roll into balls: Measure out 1 tablespoon of dough (I like to use a spring loaded cookie scoop to make things faster), place on the prepared cookie sheet. Once you have worked through all the dough (you should have 22 to 24 balls) use your hands to roll them into balls, place back on the baking sheet.
- Freeze gingerbread balls: Place the baking sheet of gingerbread balls in the freezer. Freeze for 15 minutes.
- Melt the chocolate: In a microwave safe bowl add the chocolate, broken up, along with the coconut oil. Melt in the microwave on high for 30 second increments, stirring each time – until the chocolate is melted.
- Coat the gingerbread balls in the chocolate: Add a ball to the bowl of melted chocolate, use a fork to roll it around and coat it in the chocolate – use the fork to lift it out of the chocolate and tap it a few times on the side of the bowl to allow any excess chocolate to drip off. Place the ball on the baking sheet. Decorate with a sprinkle of cinnamon or festive Christmas sprinkles (if desired). Repeat until you have coated and decorated all of the gingerbread balls
- Freeze: Freeze the balls for 5 to 10 minutes, just enough to harden the chocolate shell.
- Eat/store: You can either serve these gingerbread balls immediately or store them in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
You may have some melted chocolate leftover. You can easily coat some nuts in the chocolate to make your own homemade candy.
Vegan/dairy free: to make these vegan/dairy free simply use vegan/dairy free chocolate for the chocolate shell.
Prep time does not include the inactive time required for freezer time and soaking the dates.
