These Swedish chocolate balls, or chokladbollar, are said to be the first food a Swedish toddler learns to prepare, and for good reason—they’re simple to make, don’t require baking, and putting the “dough” together is entertaining. The fats and good grains keep you content for a lot longer than a candy bar would, and the coffee and cocoa are the ideal pick-me-ups. They definitely beat munching on a candy bar during the afternoon slump.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 5 mins |
| Additional Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 30 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 16 chokladbollar |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups quick-cooking rolled oats
- ½ cup white sugar
- 3 ½ tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup coconut oil, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons strong brewed coffee
- ½ cup unsweetened grated coconut, or as needed
Instructions
- Heat a pan over medium heat and add oats. Toss and shake until fragrant and lightly toasted, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Combine sugar, cocoa powder, salt, cayenne, butter, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and coffee in a bowl. Add the oats and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Portion dough into balls using a sorbet scoop. Roll balls in grated coconut and transfer to a parchment-lined baking pan. Let them firm up in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Both regular coffee and espresso work here.
- The sugar will add some grittiness to the overall texture. For something smoother, cream the sugar with butter first or just use powdered sugar.
- You can keep these in the fridge and let them sit out a bit before eating so they’re not completely firm.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 131 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 13 g |
| Cholesterol | 8 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 27 mg |
| Sugars | 7 g |
| Fat | 9 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
As usual, Chef John has a winner
Great and easy to make recipe
These taste so good. I don’t even know how to describe them. I had to use what I had on hand: salted butter, table salt, sweetened shredded coconut, & Keurig caramel flavored coffee. I took Chef Johns suggestion and used powdered sugar as an option to avoid a grittiness. I left out the cayenne and I didn’t toast the oats. (I just don’t care for pan toasted oats or nuts personally). One thing I would not substitute is rolled oats for the quick oats. I have tried that in other recipes and the texture is not good. I missed the part about rolling in coconut and I had already stirred it in the bowl. It seemed fine to me. These would be an easy and safe treat for a child to make. Except they seem to melt quickly because of the coconut oil. So, they may be a bit messy. I used a cookie scoop and got 18. Ty so much John.
Chef John is the best. We’re working our way through some of his recipes this holiday season, and loving each one!
Loved the ease. Love coffee but didn’t like the taste of it in this? Smell was great – taste too bitter for me. Probably just preference. Will try again without the coffee and I’m sure it will be great.
My friends and I love these!! They are easy to make and relatively healthy! Can substitute the sugar for stevia and never know the diff except the calories! Very, very good dessert! I even have a party request to whip these up for!!:)
My friends and I love these!! They are easy to make and relatively healthy! Can substitute the sugar for stevia and never know the diff except the calories! Very, very good dessert! I even have a party request to whip these up for!!:)