Healthy No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Snowballs made with just 7 basic ingredients. Whip them up in a food processor and enjoy them as a healthy snack or a fun treat.
During the holiday season, I find myself toggling between enjoying healthier treats and full-tilt indulgences.
There is room in life for both in my humble opinion!
These healthy no-bake chocolate peanut butter snowballs are the best of both worlds. They taste downright decadent for peanut butter lovers, yet they are made with all whole food ingredients.
Make them any time of year to enjoy as a snack or healthier dessert, or give them as an edible gift to your loved ones.
A bonus feature is they are gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan, so rest assured they will cover many dietary restrictions for those who have allergies.
Plus this simple recipe requires no baking!
I love that these healthy chocolate peanut butter snowballs are made with all wholesome ingredients so that you feel good about consuming them every single day. Yet they are delicious enough to feel like you’re enjoying something naughty.
Let’s discuss the healthy ingredients needed to make these peanut butter chocolate snowballs!
Ingredients for Chocolate Peanut Butter Snowballs:
Rolled Oats: Gluten-free rolled oats are blended up to help bring all of the ingredients together. You also get that delicious oaty flavor, which is always a win in my book. I use gluten-free sprouted oats. Quick oats or instant oats will also work in addition to old fashioned oats.
Unsweetened Natural Peanut Butter: The chocolate and peanut butter combination makes these delicious healthy snowballs so addictive!
If you prefer using almond butter, sunflower seed butter, or cashew butter, feel free to make the swap. I use natural creamy peanut butter but you can also use chunky peanut butter.
It will be easiest to work with the peanut butter if it is at room temperature.
Medjool Dates: Pitted medjool dates provide the sweetness and stickiness that makes these chocolate peanut butter delights taste so delicious and also helps keep them held together nicely.
I highly recommend weighing the dates because they play a crucial role in getting the consistency right and they vary greatly in size.
For instance, you will need about 10 to 12 medjool dates, but if you’re using deglet noor dates, you will need 20 to 24 because they are much smaller.
Vanilla Extract: a little vanilla extract brings lovely warmth to these yummy treats. If you don’t have it on hand, you can skip it and they will still taste great.
Cocoa Powder: The chocolate portion of the recipe. Unsweetened cocoa powder brings rich chocolatey flavor. You can also use Dutch process cocoa powder or raw cacao powder (which is what I use. For extra chocolate flavor, add ⅓ cup of chocolate chips.
Sea Salt: A pinch of sea salt enhances all of the flavors, making the snowballs taste amazingly sweet and rich.
Ground Cinnamon: I like adding a little ground cinnamon to bring subtle nuance to the treat, but you can skip it if you aren’t into cinnamon.
Milk of choice: You may or may not need to add 2 to 3 tablespoons of your favorite milk (dairy or non-dairy milk) to help bring the dough together. Choose your favorite, and start with only a couple tablespoons at a time as a little bit goes a long way. We’re looking for a cookie dough consistency that holds together easily but isn’t overly sticky or messy. As an alternative, you can add a couple tablespoons of melted coconut oil.
Unsweetened Shredded Coconut: Roll the chocolate peanut butter bites in shredded coconut if you’d like! If you aren’t into coconut, you can use more cocoa powder for rolling to give the snowballs a truffle vibe.
Now that we’re familiar with the basic ingredients, let’s make these healthy No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Snowballs!
How to Make Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Snowballs:
Transfer the oats to a food processor and process until a flour forms.
Add the rest of the ingredients for the balls to the food processor and process until a thick and sticky dough forms. If need be, stop the food processor to scrape the sides several times to help it along.
Once all of the ingredients are combined, if the dough doesn’t press together easily, add 2 to 4 tablespoons of milk (you can use regular milk, oat milk, almond milk, etc.) and process again until you’re able to form balls easily out of the mixture.
Roll the snowball dough into 20 to 26 balls, creating whatever sizes you like. If you have a small cookie scoop, use it to make perfect 1-inch balls.
If desired, roll the balls in unsweetened shredded coconut (you will need to gently press the balls into the coconut to get it to stick) or roll balls in more cocoa powder.
Enjoy!
Store balls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days, or store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
These giftable treats are perfect for sharing at a Christmas party or enjoying with the whole family during Christmas time.
Optional Additions:
If you’d like to get fancy, you can drizzle the balls with melted chocolate and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or wax paper to dry.
To do so, add 1 cup of semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips to a large bowl and microwave for 20 to 30 second increments, stirring well between each interval.
Drizzle or dip balls in melted chocolate and transfer them to the parchment-lined baking sheets (or a cooling rack) in a single layer. You can also do this with white chocolate chips for a white chocolate coating.
Roll the delicious snowballs in powdered sugar if you’d like.
And that’s it! A quick and easy heavenly peanut butter balls recipe that the whole family will surely love.
If you love peanut butter desserts, you’ll go crazy over these delectable bites.
If you love easy dessert recipes like these festive peanut butter snowballs, also try these gems.
Easy Healthy Desserts:
- Healthy 6-Ingredient Apple Oatmeal Cookies
- No-Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars
- Strawberry Oatmeal Bars
- 4-Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Bars
- 3-Ingredient No-Bake Banana Oatmeal Cookies
- Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
Enjoy these little bites of joy!
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup unsweetened peanut butter
- 1/3 cup raw cacao powder
- 10 large pitted medjool dates, 6.5 oz, 186g*
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, optional
- 1/2 tsp sea salt, to taste
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, optional
- 2 to 3 Tbsp milk of choice**
For Rolling:
- 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
- Transfer the oats to a food processor and process until a flour forms.
- Add the rest of the ingredients for the balls to the food processor and process until a thick and sticky dough forms. If need be, stop the food processor to scrape the sides several times to help it along.
- Once all of the ingredients are combined, if the dough doesn’t press together easily, add 2 to 4 tablespoons of milk (you can use regular milk, oat milk, almond milk, etc.) and process again until you’re able to form balls easily out of the mixture.
- Roll the snowball dough into 20 to 26 balls, creating whatever sizes you like. If you have a small cookie scoop, use it to make perfect 1-inch balls.
- If desired, roll the balls in unsweetened shredded coconut (you will need to gently press the balls into the coconut to get it to stick) or roll balls in more cocoa powder.
- Store balls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days, or store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.