As Christmas is on the way I thought it was time to start creating some festive recipes. Sorry if you think it’s too early to mention Christmas, but I’m basically happy to start sprinkling glitter and tinsel everywhere from the first day of November, and hopefully you’ll understand my excitement to share this recipe when you tuck into these little beauties.

Since being gluten-free I’ve missed having Ferrero Rocher at Christmas as they were always part of my festive treat selection, so I decided it was time to make my own version and share it with all of you!

And what a creation it is!! Even my mum (who loves the real thing) can’t get enough of these, so it’s fair to say I’ve mastered this recipe!

My “Ferrero Rocher” are gluten-free (obviously), packed full of good fats and, thanks to the Nutri-Brex, they contain some fab vitamins and antioxidants too! That’s right…”Ferrero Rocher” style treats that are actually healthy!! Would it be too cheesy to say the line from the Ferrero Rocher advert about really spoiling us right now!? 😉

These delicious healthy treats have that lovely crunchy layer as you bite into them, with a soft centre…and a whole hazelnut in the middle! I’m pretty damn proud of this recipe, particularly as I created the whole thing from scratch. Oh, and I just had to take a quick break while writing that description because I needed to run to the fridge to scoff another one because my mouth started watering! Seriously, you have to try these!!

This recipe does have more steps to it than my usual recipe methods of throw it all together and eat, but trust me – it’s worth it!! Nothing complicated, it just has a few more steps than usual. Give it a go though because they taste incredible!

I’ve created this recipe to make 12 chunky sized balls, but once finished they are substantially bigger than a standard Ferrero Rocher ball. A standard Ferrero Rocher ball weighs 12.5 grams, but the average weight of one of my “Ferrero Rocher” balls is 34 grams. That is almost three times the size of a standard (real) Ferrero Rocher, so obviously the macro content (carbs/fat/protein) reflects that.

Although they are incredibly more-ish, one really is plenty, so they’ll last you for a while too. Even I struggled after eating two in a row…and I’m a total chocoholic! If, however, you do want to make the macros lower then just make the mixture go further by making the balls smaller – you could easily make it spread further, I’m just a greedy git so made them big! 
 

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Makes 12 “Ferrero Rocher” balls 

Ingredients

Balls

50g cashew nuts

125g medjool dates (pitted)

1 tbsp agave nectar

20g cacao powder

12 whole hazelnuts

Coating

100g cacao butter

2 tbsp agave nectar

25g cacao powder

30g (gluten-free) Nutri-Brex

60g hazelnuts

Method

Balls

Mill the cashew nuts in a Nutribullet (using the milling blade), or a food processor – you want the nuts to be as crushed as possible so they mix well.

Place the milled cashew nuts into a food processor and add the dates, agave nectar and cacao powder. Blitz the ingredients until they mix together thoroughly.

Take a small amount of the mixture out of the food processor and make a ball about 1 inch wide. Then poke a hole in the centre of the ball and place a whole hazelnut in it before smoothing the mixture back around it and rolling the mixture in your palms to make a smooth ball. Repeat until you have 12 balls each with a hazelnut in the middle, then place the balls in the freezer to cool.

Coating

[If you want a really simple explanation, scroll down to the bottom of this post]

While the balls are chilling, break the Nutri-Brex and crumble it between your hands before placing in a bowl. Then remove the balls from the freezer and roll each one in the Nutri-Brex crumbs to coat. Place the balls back in the freezer and leave the remaining Nutri-Brex crumbs to one side for now.

Put the hazelnuts in the food processor to smash them up until they become small crunchy pieces of nuts, or do it by hand smashing them in a tea towel with a rolling pin. Then place to one side for now.

Fill a small saucepan with boiling water and put on the hob with a bowl on top of the saucepan. Melt the cacao butter in the bowl and then remove the bowl from the saucepan (obviously carefully) before adding the cacao powder and agave nectar.

Whisk the chocolate mixture until smooth and slightly cooled so not too hot to handle, then remove the balls from the freezer.

Place one ball in the chocolate mixture and coat it with the chocolate (using a spoon if you don’t want to get too messy). Then roll it in the Nutri-Brex crumbs before placing to one side. Repeat with the remaining balls.

Then coat each ball in the chocolate mixture again before rolling in the crushed hazelnuts and placing to one side.

Finally, coat the balls in the chocolate mixture again and put them all back in the freezer. I had some chocolate mixture left, so did two final coats of it before the final freezer trip.

Leave in the freezer for about 10 minutes, then move to the fridge and enjoy!!

 

 As this recipe contains more steps than my usual recipes…for those of you who are either short on time, or have little patience, here are the basic recipe steps:

Make the balls and put a hazelnut in the middle of each one 

Put the balls in freezer and crumble some Nutri-Brex 

Roll the balls in crumbled Nutri-Brex 

Put back in freezer

Crush hazelnuts and put to one side

Make chocolate mixture 

Coat the balls in chocolate 

Roll in crumbed Nutri-Brex again

Coat the balls in chocolate 

Roll in crushed hazelnuts 

Coat the balls in chocolate (once or twice more) 

Put the balls in freezer —> then fridge —> then mouth! 

And yes, the immature part of me did just giggle while writing that last line – such a big kid! 😉

If you make these please share your photos with me and let me know how you get on!

Oh, and they aren’t sponsored in any way by Nutri-Brex (just so you know). I just had a box of Nutri-Brex in my cupboard and in a moment of genius realised they could work perfectly as the wafer part!

Try my recipe and let me know what you think!! And please share it too so other people can enjoy these little beauties.

Macros (per ball):

Kcals – 202

Carbs – 14.25g

Fat – 14.5g

Protein – 3.1g

Fibre – 1.6g

Check out my other recipes:

Gluten-free, sugar-free chocolate orange sharing pot

Raw chocolate fudge energy balls – gluten-free and sugar-free

Gluten-free, sugar-free ‘Natella’ chocolate truffles

Chocolate orange avocado mousse (gluten-free)

High-protein, sugar-free banoffee pie

Choc orange cheesecake (gluten-free)

Follow @happyhealthynat

 

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