I understand the appeal of protein powder, but I struggle to stomach it – literally (I don’t like drinking it). I know you can now purchase protein powders that are “natural” and don’t have anything artificial in them, but I’m one of those people that will call a spade a spade when I see one. On that note, I also like to drink milk that is milk, I like to use butter that is butter, and I like to eat chicken that is chicken.
So basically, I really like this WHOLEFOODS idea: as unprocessed and unrefined as possible, without additives or anything artificial.
When I was making my Lemon Lupin Bliss Balls for the gluten-free expo, I realised how great lupins really are – there is your wholefood protein. No hidden nasties, nothing artificial, just lupins.
As a past chocolate gorger (I used to be able to smash out nearly a block in a sitting, always leaving the last two rows to claim I didn’t eat the whole thing), I have tried to make all my favourites as healthy as possible while maintaining the flavours that I love. On this note, I have also become accustomed to less sweet food, so a really big tip is to adjust the sweetener to your liking – no one will know!
So, as a sincere lover of a good snickers bar, my Snickers Protein Balls were born: chocolate (raw cacao), peanuts (peanut butter) and nougat (almond meal and rice malt syrup) – YUM!!!!
And, if my maths is correct (which I’m pretty sure it is), these babies are 35% protein! I did some research on protein ball recipes that use a protein powder, and their protein content ranged from 15-20%. So my lupins have smashed it out of the park!
Snickers Protein Balls
Makes 10-12 balls
60g lupin crumb
60g almond meal
15g raw cacao
90g rice malt syrup
100g peanut butter
10g coconut oil
Combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
Roll into balls.
Tip:
- You can roll your balls in raw cacao, lupin crumb or chopped peanuts. As this takes time, I usually just leave them plain or put those ingredients into the actual mixture.
- Make sure you adjust the sweetener (rice malt syrup) to your liking.
- The mixture needs to be wet enough to hold together. If it is not wet enough, you can’t form a ball.