Healthy Buckeye Balls
I proclaim these Healthy Buckeye Balls to be… GUILT-FREE!
Yup, you heard me. These sweet, soft, and fudgy, peanut buttery orbs of magic are surrounded by a luxurious layer of rich, decadent dark chocolate. Once you have a taste, you’ll have a hard time believing these no-bake treats are refined sugar free, low carb, high protein, and gluten free!
Unlike typical Buckeye Ball recipes, this healthified version contains:
- No sugar-coma-inducing powdered sugar
- No dangerous hydrogenated margarine or shortening
- No unnatural peanut butter
Instead, these flavor bombs are made with:
- organic stevia
- natural peanut butter
- wholesome protein powder
- antioxidant-rich dark chocolate
Although they may taste unhealthy, these Healthy Buckeye Balls are pure goodness in a bite-sized treat.
They’re not calorie bombs or sugar bombs like the regular ol’ Buckeye Balls. Mine are itty bitty calorie firecrackers.
These Healthy Buckeye Balls are filled with good calories, healthy fats, satiating protein, and our oh-so lovable chocolate. Everyone adored these!
Taste? Eye-opening and addictive!
Texture? Supremely fudgy.
Appearance? Mini and utterly adorable.
Healthy Buckeye Balls
Ingredients
- 100g (1 cup) Unflavored Casein Protein Powder **
- 90g (¾ cup) Peanut Flour
- ½ tsp Salt
- 1½ cups Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
- 128g (½ cup) Natural Peanut Butter
- 1½ tsp Liquid Stevia Extract
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 4 oz 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate (melted; I used my DIY Chocolate Coating)
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the protein powder, peanut flour, and salt.
- In a stand mixer bowl fitted with a beater attachment, add the almond milk, peanut butter, stevia extract, and vanilla extract. Mix on low speed until completely mixed through.
- Dump the dry ingredients into the stand mixer and mix until completely incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Use a cookie scooper to portion the mixture onto the cookie sheet. Roll the scoops into balls and poke a toothpick into each ball.
- Dip the balls in the chocolate, one at a time, and place back on the cookie sheet. Refrigerate until firm.
- Serve immediately, or store in a tightly sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Recipe Notes
- one batch Healthy Peanut Butter Protein Balls
- 2oz Dark Chocolate, melted
Yes, two decadent Buckeye Balls for only 170 calories, 6g carbs, and 3g sugar. Plus, 3g of filling fiber, 14g of satiating protein, and 10g of purely healthy fats.
Compared to two typical Buckeye Balls made with powdered sugar, margarine, shortening, and unnatural peanut butter, these Healthy Buckeye Balls will save you: 238 calories, 14g fat, and a whopping 38g sugar.
That means you can have four Healthy Buckeye Balls for less calories than two typical Buckeye Balls.
Um, yeah, I’LL TAKE IT.
(Oh, and if you decide to skip the chocolate coating and make Peanut Butter Truffles instead, each truffle will have just 60 calories each. Just thought I’d throw that out there since both my sister and dad aren’t huge fans of chocolate — SACRILEGIOUS, I know — and requested that I leave a few truffles uncoated just for them. I ended up trying one and they’re honestly great both ways!)
These Healthy Buckeye Balls are perfect for parties and get togethers, but they’re also perfect just for YOU.
Enjoy!
.
– Jess
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Indulge − no strings attached!
im sure they are wonderful but you need to rename them, they aren’t buckeyes.
If you dip them in the chocolate, they would be. Not sure why that bothers you, lol.
I agree. I’m tired of seeing people change an entire recipe into something unrecogizable and then calling it something it isn’t. I’m sure these are good, but they aren’t buckeyes.
My mom’s version of real buckeyes look like this b/c they always fall off the toothpick……. we just call them reverse buckeyes–problem solved
Buckeyes are basically peanut butter balls partially dipped in chocolate to leave a circle of peanut butter visible…..
I make something similar, but instead of protein powder, I use ground flax seeds (flax meal). And instead of melting dark (70%) chocolate, I chop up some of a dark chocolate bar, and throw it in the bowl when Im mixing the PB with the flax meal. Then I roll them and refrigerate. It’s one way I get my omega 3s and antioxidants.
Andrea, that sounds delicious! I have to try that soon, so it’s just flaxseed meal + PB + chopped chocolate? Sounds great 🙂
I would really like to have this recipe. e-mail kathyfarnham9@gmail.com
Please, please e-mail me directions. Cant wait to try
Hi Kathy! The recipe is right on the page. It’s just Peanut Butter Protein Balls dipped in chocolate 😀
-Jess
This sounds great, I am going to try it with almond butter this afternoon.
Hey Julie, just be sure to note that almond butter has much less flavor than peanut butter. Maybe try coating the entire buckeye with chocolate to get rid of the blandness? Anyways, good luck and I hope they taste good!
Jessica, I usually add about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar to the peanut butter and flax meal. (my recipe is: 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 cup of peanut butter, and 3/4 cup of flax meal, and then a handful of chopped dark chocolate). It makes about 12-14 balls.
The powdered sugar helps because my peanut butter isnt very sweet. Also, the powdered sugar helps to absorb some of the moisture/oil from PB, so they roll well. good luck!
These look amazing! I don’t care what you call them! 🙂 xoxo Kathy
Thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to try it! As a buckeye state resident AND OSU alumni, I say call them buckeyes if you want to!
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Hi 🙂 I was wondering if you knew how many calories these would be? And or nutritional facts? They look sooo good!
HOLD THE STINKING PHONE! This looks too good to be true. I seriously want to cry… these are my favorite, but I have never seen an even attempted remotely healthy recipe. THANK YOUUUUU! I can’t wait to nibble away!
where do you buy peanut flour-I have looked at Trader Joe’s, Target and Cub Foods
Peanut flour (aka powdered peanut butter) is sold at Target, they just sell different brands than what I used. Target has Jif and PB2. I use Protein Plus, which I got off Amazon (http://amzn.to/2jB8uQW), but if you don’t have an Amazon account I’d recommend Jif’s peanut powder since it doesn’t have sugar. PB2 has both added sugar and salt. Hope this helps!
wonderful! I didn’t realize the two were the same thing-thanks for the quick response 🙂
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I’m not sure what’s up but so far I’ve added an extra cup of peanut powder and extra cup of protein powder and they are still very runny and not scoopable or moldable. Are you sure these ratios are correct?
Did you use whey instead of casein, or make another substitute? This recipe has always worked for me so I’m not sure what could be going wrong…
Hi! I’m currently trying out this recipe and it is very liquidity. I tried adding 1/4c of powdered “sugar “ (xylitol) and nothing. Then I added some xanthan gum and it has thickened up a little bit, but not nearly the consistency I need to roll into balls. Any suggestions?
That’s really strange. Did you sub or omit any ingredients? It sounds like you may have used whey protein powder when the recipe calls for casein protein. The two are very different.
Horrible recipe! Too much liquid! Ended in a sticky sloppy mess and wasted all my expensive protein powder!
Sounds like you used whey protein instead of casein protein powder. The two are NOT interchangeable, as I stated in the notes section**
Would egg white protein powder work in this recipe? Have you ever tried that? Thanks!
I’ve used egg white protein powder as a substitute for whey protein powder before, but it doesn’t work as a replacement for casein protein 🙁 sorry!
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I love your blog.
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All the negative people are jealous because they can’t make up their own recipe that is as good as yours, so they are hating on you. Keep doing what your doing and don’t listen to what those jealous people say. You are amazing, and keep making amazing recipes.
XOXO, Lay