Perfectly chocolatey, subtlety peppermint, and with a texture reminiscent of cake donut holes, these chocolate peppermint protein donut holes will be your new favorite snack! You will literally never guess that these protein cake donut holes are actually GOOD for you. These make the perfect quick snack or breakfast on the go!
I seriously can NOT believe that Christmas is just FIVE days from now?! The holiday season always seems to fly by the older I get. I really just wish that time would move slower sometimes! It’s funny, because when I was younger (in high school) I couldn’t want until college and time seemed to move much slower. Then in college I was so ready to be married…and now that I’m married and have a career the years seem to be blurring together. I know part of this is due to the fact of working in a hospital and having very little time off for the holiday season.
To be honest, I’m rather envious of my immediate family members and many friends who get an entire week off at Christmas and New Years! I have Christmas Day off this year…but am working New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Hospitals never close! My husband is actually in a similar situation and just gets Christmas Day and New Year’s Day off. I know I need to be thankful we at least have one day off together (Christmas), but with so many family gatherings and celebrations the holidays sometimes feel a bit stressful trying to fit everything in!
Anyways, back to this recipe. In an attempt to tie my mini rant to this recipe (lol), making these protein cake donut holes are the OPPOSITE of stressful. They are so simple to make, and the recipe can easily be doubled, tripled, etc. to have more on hand! And as a bonus, they are extremely freezer-friendly as well! I do recommend keeping them in the fridge (or freezer) for optimal storage once you make them.
I had mentioned earlier that I’m not the biggest fan of some traditional Christmas flavors such as eggnog or gingerbread. However, I can definitely get behind peppermint, especially if it’s a chocolate peppermint combination! I can vouch that you’d never know have NO sugar in them (naturally sweetened from dates!). I had my husband try them and he liked them as well. I have to say, dates are honestly one of my favorite foods since they are SO versatile to use in recipes! As evidenced here and here.
As much as I love these chocolate protein bars, after seeing these cake bites and having made these truffles before, I was inspired to make a chocolate protein bite that had a more cake-like texture. The afore-mentioned protein bars have a very chewy texture (like an RX bar). However, I was going for more of a cake texture this time. Coconut flour is a very unique flour and contributes to the most delicious cake-like texture. I also really wanted these protein cake donut holes to be nut free. I use nuts and nut butters in recipes All. The. Time., so thought I should challenge myself to something different!
Fun fact, at any given point in time I have no less than 5 open jars of different nut butters in my fridge haha. Point proven: I believe at the moment we have homemade mixed seed butter, peanut butter, homemade cinnamon raisin almond butter, cashew butter, and cookie butter (I guess that’s technically not a nut butter, but still).
Merry Christmas to you, and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season celebrating the true meaning of Christmas with your closest family and friends! ❤
- ½ cup (about 90-100 grams) Medjool dates
- ½ cup mashed sweet potato*
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ½ cup (1 serving; 46 grams) chocolate protein powder**
- 2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder***
- Pinch salt
- 1-2 tablespoons water or milk, only if needed to blend into dough
- Optional: ¼ teaspoon pure peppermint extract (I added to half the batch)
- Optional: additional 1-2 tablespoons cocoa powder OR protein powder to roll the bolls into
- In a food processor or high speed blender, process dates until broken down and a paste begins to form.
- Add in sweet potato, coconut flour, chocolate protein powder, cocoa powder, optional peppermint extract, and a pinch of salt. Blend until the ingredients begin to form a dough. At this point, you may need to add 1-2 tablespoons of water (or milk) until combined. It will depend on how sticky your dates are, what protein powder you use, etc.
- Roll into about 12 cake donut holes, and roll in additional cocoa powder or protein powder if desired.
- Store in fridge and enjoy!
**I used Vega Sport chocolate protein
***or regular cocoa powder
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