Me and my food processor have a special relationship (this is the one we’ve got if you’re wondering who my significant other is). There is of course a third person in our relationship, which is the dishwasher, a.k.a the main reason why these days I don’t mind using my food processor more than once a day, because cleaning them by hand is a right old pain in the balls. We make everything together from hummus to soups and cookie dough to energy balls. Speaking of which I rustled up some balls the other day which have a particularly high protein content that I thought it might be good to share.

I was going for something that was high in protein, low in fat and tasted kinda peanut-y and though I ended up hitting those first two points, they ended up tasting more like chocolate fudge than anything else and hey – I ain’t complaining!

CHOCOLATE FUDGE PROTEIN BALLS (makes 18): Gooey, chocolatey, sweet goodness in the form of protein-packed energy balls. Perfect for throwing in your bag as a pre or post-workout snack. Serve them plain or roll them in any toppings of your choice to spice things up a bit.

You will need: 300g Pitted Dates, 100g Peanut Flour (I use this one), 3 TBSP Chocolate Flavoured Protein Powder (I use this one), 3 TBSP Cacao Powder, 2 TBSP Water, 2 TBSP Maple Syrup (I use this one)

This one really is as easy as throwing all the ingredients into a food processor and pressing go. Leave it a few minutes (it might need some scraping of the sides to encourage mixing) then it’s ready to roll out into balls. I take the TBSP scoop and measure them out that way so I can make them all even and that it splits 18 ways. I pop them on a plate and put it in the freezer for an hour just to firm things up, but after that they’re good in an airtight container in the fridge for a week. If you use the same ingredients as me each ball should have around 9 grams of protein. POW.