I have fond memories of making peanut butter balls with my mom and sister every holiday season. The women in my family are all big peanut butter and chocolate fans, so it seems like a natural holiday dessert to splurge on. In fact, I know when they see this post they’ll be running to the kitchen to make this version! You can’t beat how easy peanut butter balls are to throw together during those hectic last-minute preparations.
This year, I came up with a lighter version of my childhood favourite. Rather than using 2 cups of powdered sugar and plenty of butter like the old recipe, I turned to a few lighter ingredients to do the same job.
This version contains much less sweetener than classic recipes, but I promise you won’t even notice the difference, especially once the chocolate coating is in place!
The secret to achieving a similar dough (without all the powdered sugar) is a little trick I picked up from making homemade nut butter in my food processor. I noticed when I added too much maple syrup into the machine, it would cause the nut butter to seize up (i.e., get really thick). After that point, no matter how much I processed the nut butter, it never returned back to it’s creamy, drippy state. A similar thing happens when you add water to melted chocolate.
For this recipe, I used this knowledge to my advantage by stirring the peanut butter and maple syrup vigorously, until the mixture “seized” and thickened up. Well, it worked like a charm! All I had to do after that was add a couple tablespoons of coconut flour for additional thickening powers. Coconut flour is quite dense and drying, so just a little bit did the trick. No powdered sugar necessary. Yes!
Tip: If you are new to coconut flour and don’t want to buy a whole bag, try buying a small amount from a bulk food bin. I’m pretty sure Bulk Barn carries coconut flour.
At first, when you stir in the maple syrup, it will look quite runny and you’ll think there’s no way it’s going to thicken up, but it does. Just keep on stirring! It took me probably 30 seconds of stirring and letting it sit a couple minutes helps it firm up too (the coconut flour absorbs a lot of moisture). The timing will depend on how thick (or thin) your brand of peanut butter is (I only recommend using 100% all-natural peanut butter with nothing else added). It’s quite possible you might need a touch more (or less) coconut flour than what I used. I’m not sure if other sweeteners will work the same way that maple syrup does, so I can’t vouch for the results if you swap out the maple syrup.
Once it thickened up, I stirred in some sea salt to enhance the flavours and rice crisp cereal for a crunchy texture. Oh my….simply irresistible!!
Watch them disappear almost as quickly as they were made.
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Peanut Better Balls
Yield
16-20 balls
Prep time
Cook time
0 minutes
Chill time
25
Total time
These peanut butter balls forgo the powdered sugar and butter, and instead use a few lighter ingredients using only a fraction of the sweetener compared to traditional recipes. You'll wonder how you ever lived without this recipe around the holidays! It's quick to throw together and makes about 16-20 balls that will fill a platter for a holiday party. For mess-free finger food, place the balls in mini cupcake liners.
Ingredients
- 1 cup 100% natural peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
- 3.5-4 tablespoons pure maple syrup, to taste (see note)
- 1-3 tablespoons coconut flour, only if needed
- fine grain sea salt, to taste (I used 1/4 teaspoon)
- 6 tablespoons gluten-free rice crisp cereal
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life)
- 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil
Directions
- Stir the jar of peanut butter well before using. In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter and maple syrup vigorously, for 30-60 seconds, until it thickens up. It will go from runny to thick during this time.
- Stir in the coconut flour until combined (if your PB is dry, you might be able to skip this step or only use half). We're looking for a texture that isn't too sticky, but not too dry either. Let it sit for a couple minutes to firm up as the coconut flour will continue to absorb moisture with time. Add a touch more coconut flour if necessary. Or if it's too dry, add a touch more syrup.
- Add salt to taste and stir in the rice crisp cereal.
- Shape into small balls (I made about 17).
- In a small pot, add the chocolate chips and coconut oil and heat over low heat, stirring frequently. Once half the chips have melted, remove from heat and stir until completely smooth.
- With a fork, dip the balls into the melted chocolate. Tap off excess chocolate on the side of the pot and place the ball on a plate or cutting board lined with parchment. Repeat for the rest. Save any leftover melted chocolate for later.
- Place balls in the freezer for around 6-8 minutes until mostly firm.
- Dip a fork into the leftover melted chocolate and drizzle it on top of the balls to create a "sophisticated" design like the baking diva you are.
- Freeze the balls for another 10-15 minutes, until the chocolate is completely set. If you can wait that long, you win life.
Tip:
1) I'm not sure if other liquid sweeteners will work in this recipe (and firm up the peanut butter the same way as maple syrup does), therefore I can't recommend any. A reader did tell me that agave nectar worked for her though! 2) I recommend only using 100% natural peanut butter for this recipe. You just want to see roasted peanuts on the label (and maybe salt, if it’s salted). The no-stir kinds made with oil and sugar might not work the same way. The PB I used was very drippy. If your PB seems dry, you probably won't need to use all of the coconut flour.
Loved making these!!! Super easy! I found the fork idea didn’t work very well for spreading the chocolate at the end. So I poured the chocolate into a ziploc bag and cut a small hole in the tip. It drizzled the chocolate a lot better! Can’t wait for them to get out of the freezer!!
Okay, I made them, and they ARE delicious (despite forgetting the salt). I must have made them bigger then yours, because a double batch yielded about 28. Hehe…I can’t wait to bring them to work.
Yum! I’ve noticed the same thickening effect when using liquid coconut nectar in some recipes, so I’ll give that a try (here in Malaysia coconut blossom sugar is waaaaay cheaper than maple syrup). When I make peanut butter balls or cups I add in some ground flax to thicken it. I like the mealy texture, it reminds me of Reese’s cups. I’ll give coconut flour a try too!
These are heavenly! Total crowd pleaser and definite A+!!!
These look amazing! Coincidentally, I’m currently in my kitchen surveying a total truffle-chocolate-dipping mess — that’s of course not necessarily a bad thing, but I’m trying to figure out how to be a bit more efficient (and get more chocolate on the truffles and less on the counter =P).
Do you have any tips on how to dip truffles with the least waste of chocolate?
I’ve just made these to take home for Christmas, they are amazing!!
It is not terribly helpful to see “Gosh, oh golly. This sounds delicious” comments!! Not at all helpful. A suggestion to comment when recipe has actually been completed and tasted would actually be helpful to a person who would like to try the recipe.
If you’d like to see the recipe reviews, go to the last page of the comments. Those are most recent. Hope this helps!
I love your recipes and I think you are a magician! You inspire me to be creative and love cooking healthy food! Plus, you’re pictures are gorgeous! I can’t wait to make these peanut butter balls! Do you happen to know the calorie count on these?:)
Hi Angela! I absolutely adore your blog and have been searching for a recipe to make for Christmas. I think this might be it, as I found some coconut flour at our organic store (which is generally badly stocked) and thought: it’s a miracle, it’s a sign!! Now I was wondering, is it possible to leave out the cereal? Or substitute it with oats? Zurich is still new to gluten free lifestyles and does not provide as many things as America has :(
Yes you can certainly leave out the cereal – totally optional. I’m not sure about adding oats. I guess that depends on whether you like raw oats or not! Enjoy :)
I just made these today! They are delicious. I had one mishap though – I had rolled all the little balls and was ready to dip them in chocolate, when I realized I had forgotten to add the cereal! So, I dumped all the balls back in the bowl and stirred it up and added the cereal and made all the balls again. Whew! They are still wonderful!
Made these with my 3-year-old this morning. We sampled just 1 since we are freezing the rest for Christmas. So, so, so good! We both loved them. (And let’s be honest, I may have to sample another since we have a few more days to go until we celebrate!)
I made these this morning. Very good. Thanks for the treat that I don’t have to feel too guilty indulging in.
I made these tonight, used honey instead of maple syrup because peanut butter and honey is one of my all time favorite combos. The texture of these is AMAZING, and I love that they aren’t super sweet like other peanut butter chocolate recipes (3 cups powdered sugar?!)! My 4 year old son sampled one tonight and said “YUM, can I have some of these with my dinner?!”! Thank you so much!
Made these yesterday. AMAZING! Followed the recipe perfectly except for using honey instead of maple syrup (not vegan I know…). Any who, amazingly delicious. Thanks OSG!
Hello Angela,
I made this today and it came out OK. But the mixture was too dry and crumbly. I use organic peanut butter from the bulk section (where you grind your own). It was nice and thick. Maybe it didn’t need and coconut flour. As you mention in the recipe, it firmed up well after mixing with the maple syrup. I was contemplating whether to add the flour as it was already firm.
Thanks,
ps. The Kale salad that you posted during thanksgiving was a hit at my friends Thanksgiving Dinner. That was the only dish that cleaned out!
OMG! These are heavenly. These will now become an annual Christmas treat.
My husband took a few of these delicious balls into work and decided to enter them into their (very informal) Christmas Party Bake-Off and won first prize! Ha! Now he’s been requested to bring in more for everyone to try! Ha! Thanks so much for this yummy treat!
P.S. I made some that were big and some that were small and I liked the smaller ones. The peanut butter to chocolate ratio was more to my taste. Just something to consider. :)
Made these last night, so delicious! Thank you!
Since I was a kid, we’ve always made chocolate peanut butter squares with crispy rice cereal, topped with chocolate – and recently it’s been my one concession to powdered sugar because I couldn’t think of a way to get the same effect with healthier sweeteners. I think you’ve done it! I’m going to try making this recipe into bars today. :)
WOW, made these and they tasted even better than the traditional sugar, butter-laden recipe!! My peanut butter was not very runny so used 1 TBSP of almond flour. Also, used Suzanne’s Organic Maple Rice Nectar instead of maple syrup. Thank you for this amazing and improved recipe makeover. Happy holidays, Angela!