Every time my cousin comes over, she requests one of my Healthy Sunbutter Caramel Cake Bites. She’s not like me, all health conscious and gluten-free but she loves these cake bites regardless of the fact that they are healthy, refined sugar-free, paleo, duh on the gluten-free, nut-free and vegan. These pops are free of so many things you are probably wondering what’s left. I’ll tell you…PURE DELICIOUSNESS {on a stick!} : )
Who doesn’t love a treat on a stick covered in chocolate? I don’t know anyone that would turn this down, do you?
I swear most of my concoctions come from mistakes made in the kitchen, like these. I don’t know if you remember my Gluten-Free Salted Sunbutter Caramels (that were by the way out of this world) where I created a structured layer of Sunbutter (sunflower seed butter) and on top a thick layer of date caramel, covered it in chocolate topped with pink sea salt. Think of a Reese’s Peanut butter caramel cup. Those were beyond bombdigity, with just the right amount of sweet vs. salty. A Pothead’s dream dessert, a woman on the rag’s dessert perfection, a pregnant woman’s dream come true or a someone having a REALLY stressful day at work, you know the type. The type that says after a screaming match, “I just need some chocolate!” as if chocolate is going to understand? Which chocolate totally would understand…you get the drift. Anyway…After making those, I wanted to do that but on a stick, kinda like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but made nut-free.
That was the thought, the dream, the idea that DIDN’T get executed well, because what I ended up with and so duh after I made them was just a super sweet Sunbutter ball dipped in chocolate on a stick!
Side note: Did you know that Medjool Dates are the sweetest fruit on the planet? Those babes can sweeten anything to a dessert level of amazingness without the added sugar! Using as many dates as I did made the Sunbutter taste like a sweet caramel, but you didn’t SEE the date caramel because it was mixed in. Double duh. And so not a peanut butter and jelly sandwich look. I decided to forgo that idea, because what I had created was FAR better. What I WAS left with was a super naturally sweet Sunbutter cake bite, and that my friends, covered in chocolate was bomb, award winning, give me my Emmy worthy cake bite! So that’s how this spin off dessert came about. They almost didn’t make it to the blog until my cousin and other friends KEPT requesting them. Then I knew. I knew I had something special in these little lollipop cake bites.
Sometimes I can’t believe it took me this long to realize that sweet desserts can be made with real foods. Prior to Nutrition School (2013), the only way I knew how to develop a dessert was with cane sugar. Yikes!
So now I’m going to answer your burning questions, because I KNOW you are drooling. Are these labor intensive? No! Are these easy to make? Totally!! All you need is a food processor for the insides and a double boiler or a microwave to melt the chocolate. Personally I prefer a double boiler because it melts the chocolate so smoothly, but if that is not your jam, microwave to the rescue!
So let’s talk food processor’s. Lately I am in LOVE, like serious love, hard crushing love with my food processor. It’s just so easy. You can make so many things in there like cookie dough, brownie batter, raw cake bites and then the other usual stuff like dips, seed and nut butters, salsa’s – the sky is the limit. And my totally embarrassing secret a foodie should NEVER disclose? I bought my food processor at least 2 years before I actually took it out of the box and tried to use it! Yup! My hands are covering my face as I write this, no I’m joking they are not, cuz how would I type? But seriously picture a hands over my face emoji. Then when I took it out of the box I just starred at it, like how the heck do I use this thing? There were a few blips before I had that lightbulb moment, but overall a food processor is mad easy to use. I’m only telling you this story in case you think a food processor is daunting. I wanted to let you know that at some point every baker and chef has probably thought the same thing at some point in their lives. I think If I could only own a few appliances or kitchen tools my food processor would DEFINITELY make the cut. In fact, I should do a post on my favorite can’t live without kitchen tools…
Ok, before I get side tracked and start blogging about something else entirely different, let’s create beautiful music together okay?
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
1/2 cup creamy Sunflower Seed Butter
1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon Otto’s Cassava Flour
12-16 Mejool Dates soaked, pitted and drained
4 Dark gluten-free chocolate bars
Coconut oil as need to thin the chocolate mixture
1/4 teaspoon Pink Himalayan Sea Salt
Lollipop sticks
Any desired toppings. I used shredded coconut.
DIRECTIONS:
First, soak dates ahead of time in a bowl filled with warm water. Make sure you pit the dates before you put them in water. Then cover them in water and let them soak for up to 4 hours. The softer the better.
After dates are soaked, drain them and discard the water.
Add dates to a food processor along with the sea salt, sunflower seed butter and cassava flour and blend really well until all ingredients form a smooth mixture. You may need to use a spoon to scrape the sides of the food processor.
Spoon the mixture into a bowl and freeze for 20 minutes so it hardens enough to form the mixture into balls. Remove from the freezer and roll portions of the mixture into small – medium round balls. If you can form the mixture into balls without the mixture being too sticky you can skip this step.
Then add a stick to the center of each ball and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Freeze balls until hardened. This could take 1 hour or longer. I prefer to freeze them for a few hours so they are rock hard, that way when you dip them into the chocolate they will not melt.
15 minutes before you take the lollipops out of the freezer, prepare to melt the chocolate in a double boiler (on low to medium heat to melt) or microwave (at 30 second intervals). Add coconut oil teaspoon by teaspoon to thin out the thickness of the chocolate and make it more spreadable. Try one teaspoon at a time. It’s magical.
Once you take the lollipops out of the freezer, dip them into the melted chocolate until the entire ball is covered. You can use a spoon to help you do this. Feel free to add toppings like shredded coconut or even gluten-free sprinkles. Then let them lay on the parchment lined baking tray. Once all lollipops are covered in chocolate put them back in the freezer and freeze until set. Once set store them in a plastic bag or sealed container and keep frozen until ready to serve.
Store in the freezer for up to 6 months. These taste amazing frozen and also thawed.
TIPS:
Use the total amount of dates (16) if you want a ridiculously sweet cake bite. But you don’t have to use that many.
If you need help choosing a gluten-free chocolate bar, check out my healthy chocolate post.
Make sure the sunflower seed butter you use is the creamy type. I love Sunbutter, because of it’s creamy texture. If you cannot get that brand, just aim for organic, sugar-free, low sodium and creamy.
Once the chocolate is melted in both the double boiler and microwave, you can add the coconut oil teaspoon by teaspoon and mix well. You will notice that a little goes a long way, and it magically thins out the chocolate.
- ½ cup Sunflower Seed Butter
- ¼ cup + 1 Tablespoon Otto's Cassava Flour
- 12-16 Mejool Dates soaked, pitted and drained
- 4 Dark gluten-free chocolate bars
- Coconut oil as need to thin the chocolate mixture
- ¼ teaspoon Pink Himalayan Sea Salt
- Lollipop sticks
- Any desired toppings. I used shredded coconut.
- First, soak dates ahead of time in a bowl filled with warm water. Make sure you pit the dates before you put them in water. Then cover them in water and let them soak for up to 4 hours. The softer the better.
- After dates are soaked, drain them and discard the water.
- Add dates to a food processor along with the sea salt, sunflower seed butter and cassava flour and blend really well until all ingredients form a smooth mixture. You may need to use a spoon to scrape the sides of the food processor.
- Spoon the mixture into a bowl and freeze for 20 minutes so it hardens enough to form the mixture into balls. Remove from the freezer and roll portions of the mixture into small - medium round balls. If you can form the mixture into balls without the mixture being too sticky you can skip this step.
- Then add a stick to the center of each ball and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
- Freeze balls until hardened. This could take 1 hour or longer. I prefer to freeze them for a few hours so they are rock hard, that way when you dip them into the chocolate they will not melt.
- minutes before you take the lollipops out of the freezer, prepare to melt the chocolate in a double boiler (on low to medium heat to melt) or microwave (at 30 second intervals). Add coconut oil teaspoon by teaspoon to thin out the thickness of the chocolate and make it more spreadable. Try one teaspoon at a time. It's magical.
- Once you take the lollipops out of the freezer, dip them into the melted chocolate until the entire ball is covered. You can use a spoon to help you do this. Feel free to add toppings like shredded coconut or even gluten-free sprinkles. Then let them lay on the parchment lined baking tray. Once all lollipops are covered in chocolate put them back in the freezer and freeze until set. Once set store them in a plastic bag or sealed container and keep frozen until ready to serve.
- Store in the freezer for up to 6 months. These taste amazing frozen and also thawed.
Love & Raw Cake Bites,
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