With the holidays upon us, Food & Nutrition’s recipe developers cooked up a beautiful spread of secretly nutritious snacks, sweets and mocktails that are sure to entertain guests! Find our other “Festive Fete” recipes here.
Servings: 12
Serving size: 1 pop
Prep time: 30 minutes
Freezing time: 1 hour
Ingredients
- 2 cups pitted Medjool dates (about 12 dates)
- ¼ cup crunchy peanut butter
- ¼ cup canned pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- ¼ cup, plus 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon (15 milliliters) maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup pecans, chopped
- 2 cups white chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon (5 milliliters) molasses
- 3 tablespoons (45 milliliters) unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
- Place dates, peanut butter, pumpkin, oats, flour, oil, maple syrup, brown sugar, ¾ teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and salt in a food processor. Process until mixture is smooth and sticks together as one large ball (about 30 to 60 seconds).
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Roll 1 heaping tablespoon of mixture into a ball and place on baking sheet. Continue with remaining mixture to make 12 balls.
- Place pan in freezer for 30 minutes. Remove balls from freezer and place a treat stick about ¾ of the way into each ball.
- In a small bowl, stir together pecans and remaining ¼ teaspoon cinnamon.
- Make a double boiler by filling a medium saucepan with 1 to 2 inches of water and bringing to a simmer. Place white chocolate chips in a medium glass or metal bowl and place on top of pot (bottom of bowl should not touch the water).
- Stir in molasses and almond milk, continuing to stir until mixture is completely melted.
- Dip a pop into the caramel, coating evenly and letting excess sauce drip back into the bowl. Hold the pop upright for 30 seconds to cool slightly.
- Dip gently into pecan mixture, pressing nuts onto the pop. Hold upright for another 30 seconds before placing the pop pecan-side-down on the lined baking sheet.
- Continue working through remaining pops and then place baking sheet with pops back in the freezer for 30 minutes until hardened.
- Store in refrigerator for up to 7 days and serve chilled or at room temperature.
* For festive flair, we rolled a few pops in pretty sprinkles
Nutrition per serving: CALORIES 321; TOTAL FAT 18g; SAT. FAT 8g; CHOL. 6mg; SODIUM 100mg; CARB. 40g; FIBER 4g; SUGARS 33g; PROTEIN 5g; POTASSIUM N/A; PHOSPHORUS N/A
Amari Thomsen, MS, RD, is owner of Eat Chic Chicago. She graduated from Loyola University of Chicago and later completed her nutrition education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Amari is focused on integrating modern and traditional techniques to promote real food nutrition. Read her nutrition blog and find her on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.
