From the response I have had from the teaser of these I shared on my Instagram story earlier this week, it already appears that these might be popular and so I have tried to be speedy in sharing the recipe - so here you go! 

Ingredients:
(To make 12 small sized balls)

• ​200g dates 
• 200g crushed nuts 
• 200g dark chocolate 
• 200g smooth nut butter

Method:

1. ​In a food processor, blend together the nut butter (I have used peanut butter on this particular occasion, but it can be any flavour you fancy) and dates until a smooth thick paste forms. It can take a few minutes! 
2. Using a tablespoon, spoon out equal amount of the nut butter and date mixture and roll it into 12 small balls with your hands. 
3. Place the balls onto a lined tray and place into the freezer to set for approx. 1 hour
4. After 1 hour, melt the chocolate in a pan on low heat. Once melted, mix in the crushed nuts (again, I used peanuts on this occasion but it could be any type of nut to compliment the nut butter you are using)
5. Remove the balls from the freezer and roll each one in the chocolate and nut mixture with your fingers.
6. Once they are all evenly covered, place them back onto the lined tray and back into the freezer until set. 

Enjoy! 
Hels x

I don't know whether it is just me, but I am really struggling to get my hands on any normal flour at the moment (particularly when I need gluten free flour!) So this recipe is one I put together using ground oats as that is all I had in the cupboard! It turned out to be one of my favourite cookie recipes so far, so I hope you enjoy them too!

Ingredients

• 65g coconut oil
• 100ml of almond milk
• 100g dark chocolate chips
• 40g cacao powder
• 2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter (I used Manilife as it is super crunchy!)
• 200g coconut sugar
• 180g oat flour (use a food processor to ground normal oats)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Large pinch of salt

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180c and line a baking tray with baking paper
• Melt the coconut oil. Once melted, remove from the heat and leave to cool a little - you want it to reach room temperature, but still be in liquid form
• In a large bowl, mix together the coconut sugar, cacao powder, flour, baking powder and a small pinch of salt
• Pour in the almond milk, cooled coconut oil and peanut butter and mix well until a thick mixture forms. If it still a little dry add a few more tsps of almond milk until you get the desired consistency
• Add in the chocolate chips and bring cookie dough together using your hands
• Shape the dough into 12 even balls by rolling them in your hands, and then gently pressing them down into the tray - ensure they are spaced out evenly, leaving a couple of cms between each ball as they will expand (I had to use 2 trays)
• Sprinkle a little pinch of salt over each cookie
• Bake for 14 minutes (they will still be a little soft when you take them out of the oven - if you prefer crunchy cookies, leave them in a little longer)
• Once cooked, leave the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes - during this time the cookies will harden

​Enjoy! x

So for lent, I gave up nut butter (crazy I know...) so I needed another form of sweet treat and this recipe did the trick - technically allowed too as tahini is made from seeds! ⠀⠀⠀⠀
I know it does sound strange having tahini as one of the main ingredients but trust me, they are tasty! ⠀⠀⠀

Ingredients:
Base

• 100g ground almonds
  
• 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
  
• 8 dates

Top

• 130g tahini
  
• 3 dates
  
• 1 tbsp honey
  
• 100g dark chocolate, melted ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

⠀
Method:

• Line a muffin tray with fairy cake cases
  
• For the base, using a food processor, mix together the ground almonds, melted coconut oil and dates until crumb like texture
  
• Put approximately 1 tbsp of base mixture into the bottom of the fairy cases and press down until compact. Any surplus, distribute evenly across the cases
  
• Place the tray into the freezer whilst you make the top layer - leave until firm
  
• For the top layer, using a food processor mix together the tahini, dates, honey and melted dark chocolate until smooth
  
• Take out the bases from the freezer and evenly distribute the top layer into the fairy cases. Use a spoon to even each one out
  
• Place back into the freezer for another 30 minutes or until firm
  
• Store in the fridge. Best eaten directly from the fridge too as they can begin to melt quickly! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Enjoy!  let me know what you think if you make them yourself!

​Hels x

These are definitely one of my most loved recipes. I honestly get asked to make them so often and they go in a flash at any event I take them to! Now you can have them whenever you want - the best thing, is they take about 5 minutes to whip up too! 
​If you aren't a fan of peanut butter, try it out with alternative nut butters - almond butter works really well too. 

Ingredients

• ​2 3/4 cups of oats
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup honey (maple syrup for vegan alternative)
• 3/4 cup of peanut butter or other nut butter
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 200g dark chocolate 

Method

• Line a 8x8 tray with baking paper
• Stir together the honey, 1/4 cup of peanut butter, water and vanilla until smooth
• Stir in the oats and salt
• Place about 3/4 of the mixture into the tray and press down evenly
• In a separate bowl, melt the chocolate and 1/2 cup of peanut butter
• Stir until smooth
• Pour the chocolate mixture onto the base oat mixture in the tray
• Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture onto the top of the chocolate layer and press down
• Refrigerate until firm enough to cut into squares

Enjoy!
​Hels x

Surprise your friends with the mystery ingredient ‘black beans’ – they are a great non meat source of protein so a great addition to baking if you’re wanting to increase your protein intake – and surprisingly tasty in cookie form!
 
Ingredients:

• 1 can of black beans drained
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbs almond milk
• 85g honey
• 2 tbs coconut sugar
• 5 tbs cocoa powder
• 3 tbs plain flour (I used GF)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 100g dark chocolate chips

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180c an line tray with baking paper
• Blitz beans, oil, PB, milk, honey, and sugar in a food processor until smooth
• Add cocoa, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and mix until it forms a mousse like consistency
• Mix in the chocolate chips with a spoon – don’t blitz them!
• Spoon 10 even dollops of the mix onto the baking tray – approx. a big tbs size
• Bake for 10 mins. They should still be a little soft when you remove from the oven
• Leave to cool completely before removing from the tray

Enjoy!
​Per cookie = ~190kcal, 22g carbs, 9g fat, 5g protein

​Hels x

This is one of my all time non nut butter sweet treats (I know.. they do actually exist!)

Ingredients 
Cake:

• 175g honey
• 185ml olive oil
• 200g ground almonds
• 125g buckwheat flour
• 155g grated carrots
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

'Cream' frosting:

• 200g coconut cream (if you can't find this, you can buy a full fat 400g tin of coconut milk and use the solidified top layer - just keep the liquid coconut water for a smoothie or something!)
• 60g coconut yoghurt
• 56g coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
• Pinch of salt
• 3 tbsp honey

Decorations 

• Pumpkin seeds
• Sunflower seeds
• Shredded coconut

Method
Cake:

• Preheat the oven to 160c and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper
  
• Mix all of the cake ingredients in a bowl and pour into the cake tin
  
• Bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean
  
• Leave in the tin until completely cool before turning out onto a plate

Frosting:

• Whilst the cake is baking, beat the coconut cream until light, fluffy and soft peaks form
  
• Mix the beaten coconut cream in a large bowl with the coconut yoghurt, coconut oil, vanilla, salt and honey - the frosting will be quite thin now but will firm up after chilling
• Chill the frosting for about 4 hours
• Once chilled, spread on top of the cake
• Sprinkle topping decorations on to finish
• Store in the fridge

Enjoy! 
Hels x

As you have probably guessed, I am slightly addicted to nut butters, so any recipe that contains the stuff is a winner in my eyes. And these are just so moreish, if I do say so myself! 

These are a healthier version of Reece's peanut butter cups, and the best thing is you can tailor the middle to your own fave flavours. Which brings me onto a new discovery - Nutcessity. A friend of mine came across their products at a local food festival and had to tell me about them. They are so local to me (literally made down the road from my house), and pride themselves on being organic, free from added sugar, preservatives and oils so I had to give them a go. 
Their nut butters are not your usual flavours so work perfectly for this recipe - who doesn't love a bit of variety! 

I went for their maple pecan, gingerbread almond, and brazil and coconut flavours - they all taste different but super yummy. 

Ingredients

• Dark chocolate 
• Coconut oil
• Nut butter 

Method 

• Line a cupcake tray with fairy cake cases
• Melt dark chocolate
• Spoon 2-3 tsp of melted dark chocolate into the cases (roughly 1/3rd full)
• Place them into the fridge for about 15 minutes to allow the bottom layer to set
• Melt a small quantity of coconut oil and mix it with your choice of nut butter (the coconut oil ensures the middle layer sets, but add to your taste)
• Place 2-3 tsp of nut butter into each case
• Top the nut butter layer with more melted chocolate until it is fully covered
• Place them into the fridge for another 15-30 minutes until they are completely set
• They are best served straight from the fridge

Enjoy! 

https://www.nutcessity.co.uk/about

​A quick and easy snack / pre-training fuel!

Ingredients:

• 100g raisins
• 125g melted coconut oil
• 75g coconut sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 100g spelt flour
• 100g oats
• ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method:

• Soak the raisins in a bowl of boiling water for 10 mins to prevent them from burning when you bake
• Preheat the oven to 160 C and line your baking tin with baking paper
• Mix all the ingredients, except the raisins, in a bowl
• Drain the raisins and stir into the mix
• Roll the dough into 10 equal sized bowls, place onto the baking paper and flatten slightly to make a cookie shape
• Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until the edges are golden brown
• Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the tray to prevent them falling apart!

Enjoy!

​






​I love these for an afternoon snack for a bit of a carb boost prior to evening training!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dates (finely chopped)
• 3 very ripe bananas (mashed)
• 1 cup of buckwheat
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup oat flour (simply blitz oats)
• 2 tbsp oil (I used coconut)
• 50g dark chocolate chips
• 50g raisins 

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200C and line a square baking tray
• Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl
• Transfer mixture into the tray and press down well
• Bake or 15 minutes or until the top is just turning brown
• Slice up and store in the fridge

​Enjoy! 

It is far too hard to not have more than one of these! They are amazing for dunking into cups of tea too!
 
Ingredients:

• 105g oats
• 70g almond flour
• 1 tbsp butter (softened)
• 3 tbsp honey
• 50 ml almond milk
• 1 tbsp coconut oil (softened)
• 40g vanilla protein powder (optional)
• 80g dark chocolate

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180C and line a baking tray with baking paper
• Mix all of the ingredients together, except the dark chocolate in a bowl
• Scoop tbsp. sized chunks onto the baking tray and flatten into biscuits
• Bake for 15-20 mins, until golden in colour
• Leave to cool completely
• Melt the chocolate and then spread 1 tsp onto the top of each biscuit

Enjoy!

​Per cookie = ~248kcal, 14.4g fat, 19.9g carbs, 8.7g protein (with protein powder included in mix)