Pumpkin & Pi: Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

Most people don't associate "healthy" with chocolate cookies. While these aren't the healthiest replacement for say veggies or an apple, they are a pretty good alternative to real chocolate chip cookies.

If you have heard of Larabars or date balls, that is essentially what these are. I have quite the sweet tooth, so it is nice to have some guilt-free, tasty and filling sweets. Two weekends ago I took my first leap into the date ball process and bought dates! Whoa, I know...big step ;) That weekend I attempted my first recipe and was a little disappointed with the results. The were pretty sticky, and almost too sweet for me. My mini food processor didn't appreciate the dates either and never quite blended the ingredients properly. I even left out the chocolate chips so as not to "waste" them in sub-par date balls.

To my surprise though, the balls equilibrated overnight and turned out to be quite the hit in our household! I think the oats and chia seeds soaked up a bit of the excess moisture and calmed down the sweetness.

With renewed date-ball spirit, I attempted them again this weekend. This time, instead of processing the dates, I just diced them by hand an used a muddler to smush them all together. It took a little elbow grease, but it worked, and it saved me the concern of ruining my small (but functioning) food processor.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cups Diced Dates

2 Tbsp Vanilla

1 Cup Whole Oats

2 Tbsp Chia Seeds

1/3 Cup Chocolate Chips

Instructions

Remove pits from dates and dice into about 1/4" x 1/4" pieces.
Muddle (of food process) the diced dates and vanilla into a paste.
Separately, process oats to reduce size. Complete pulverization is not necessary.
Mix chia seeds and processed oats into the date paste.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Roll dough into about 1" balls and refrigerate.
Enjoy! You can eat the chocolate chip cookie dough balls immediately and they should last at least one week, maybe two in the fridge. I would suggest to let them rest overnight to get the best product.