What to call these little balls of wonder?
As I've been playing around with this recipe, my family & I have been trying to figure out what to call these little balls of wonder. They're difficult to place. What are they? A cookie? No, too soft & rounded. A donut hole? No, they're not anywhere near as sweet and fluffy as that. A muffin? Well, not really. Hmmmm...for now, at least, we've landed on "Cinnamon Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake Bites". Do you have any other ideas? Maybe we could re-name these together? Let me know in the comments!
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- What to call these little balls of wonder?
- Prepare your 'mise en place'
- Place sweet potato mixture ingredients in a large bowl
- Pour in the dairy-free chocolate chips
- Place the maple cinnamon coating ingredients into a small bowl
- Be sure there are no lumps
- Roll the sweet potato mixture into balls
- Roll in the maple cinnamon coating
- Bake the cake bites until they start cracking up!
- Remove from the oven & allow to cool
- Great with a cup of coffee or tea
- 📖 Recipe
- 💬 Comments
Prepare your 'mise en place'
It's so helpful to prepare your 'mise en place' (have your ingredients prepped and ready) before you begin cooking. It truly makes the cooking process go so much more smoothly! For this recipe, the sweet potatoes will need to be baked, cooled a bit, peeled, and mashed ahead of time.
Place sweet potato mixture ingredients in a large bowl
Place the sweet potato mixture ingredients including the baked and mashed sweet potatoes, cocoa powder, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, natural peanut butter, maple syrup, baking powder, and oat flour into a large bowl and stir well to combine. Save the dairy-free mini chocolate chips for the next step.
Pour in the dairy-free chocolate chips
After stirring the rest of the sweet potato mixture ingredients together in the bowl, pour in the mini dairy-free chocolate chips. Then, stir again to combine.
Place the maple cinnamon coating ingredients into a small bowl
Place the almond flour, maple sugar, and cinnamon into a small bowl. Then, stir well to combine. Tip: I've used date sugar in this recipe in place of the maple sugar. That's an option, too. However, I do prefer the little extra sweetness and distinct flavor the maple sugar provides. It seems to bring out the flavor of the cinnamon a bit more, too!
Be sure there are no lumps
Sometimes maple sugar (or date sugar) may become a little lumpy in their packaging. Be sure there are no lumps in the maple cinnamon coating. You want your coating to be nice and powdery. Pressing down on any small lumps with a spoon or using a whisk may help, if needed.
Roll the sweet potato mixture into balls
Next, scoop about 2 Tbsp of sweet potato mixture per cake bite. Roll each scoop into a small ball in your hands. Each cake bite will be about the size of a ping pong ball. It may help to wet your hands periodically at this point to prevent the dough from sticking. Place each of these little balls of wonder on your parchment-lined baking pan.
It seems to work best to roll all of the balls first, setting each of them on the parchment-lined tray, and then go back and roll each of them in the maple cinnamon coating. This helps to keep things a little less messy.
Roll in the maple cinnamon coating
Roll each cake bite lightly in the maple cinnamon coating before placing them back on the parchment-lined pan.
Bake the cake bites until they start cracking up!
Place the pan of cake bites into your preheated 350 F (176 C) oven. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until they begin cracking up a bit on the surface. Then ask them what's so funny! ...insert eye roll here 😉
Remove from the oven & allow to cool
Your cake bites, once baked, will begin to crack a bit on the surface when they're done. At this point, remove them from the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Once they've cooled a bit, enjoy!
Great with a cup of coffee or tea
These "Cinnamon Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake Bites" are comforting little balls of wonder. They're soft, moist, & chocolatey with a lightly sweet cinnamon twist. They can be enjoyed as a snack or dessert...or maybe even as a small breakfast treat sometimes! They're especially great alongside a cup of coffee or tea.
Maple sugar is crystallized maple syrup. You may find it in your grocery store but if not, it's available on Amazon.
Oat flour is made of ground oats. It can typically be found in the natural foods section of grocery stores. Alternatively, you can place rolled oats in a high-speed blender to make your own.
Natural peanut butter is made of ground peanuts only (& possibly a little salt). It can typically be found in the refrigerated section of grocery stores. Alternatively, you can place peanuts in a high-speed blender to make your own.
📖 Recipe
Cinnamon Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake Bites
Equipment
- large baking sheet
- parchment paper
- large bowl
- small bowl
Ingredients
Sweet potato mixture
- 2 cups baked sweet potatoes, cooled, peeled & mashed about 2-3 sweet potatoes, depending on the size
- 3 Tbsp cocoa powder, unsweetened cacao powder would work here too
- 1 tsp cinnamon, ground + more for coating, see below
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup natural peanut butter*
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ cups oat flour*
- ½ cup mini dairy-free chocolate chips I used the "Enjoy Life" brand
Maple cinnamon coating
- ½ cup almond flour
- 2 Tbsp maple sugar* or date sugar, see note
- 1 tsp cinnamon, ground
Instructions
Prepare your 'mise en place'
- Prep & measure out all of your ingredients ahead of time ('mise en place' = everything in its place) to make the cooking process more enjoyable. You can prepare your parchment-lined baking sheet at this point too.
Preheat your oven to 350° F (176° C)
Combine sweet potato mixture
- Place all of the sweet potato mixture ingredients except for the mini chocolate chips into a large bowl and stir to combine.Next, stir in the mini chocolate chips until evenly combined.
Combine maple cinnamon coating mixture
- Place all of the maple cinnamon coating mixture ingredients into a small bowl and stir or whisk to combine. Be sure there are no lumps.
Roll the sweet potato mixture into balls
- Roll the mashed sweet potato mixture into balls (the size of ping pong balls, about 2 Tbsp each). Use your hands to roll into balls. Wetting your hands occasionally may help prevent sticking. Place each ball out spaced evenly on your parchment-lined baking sheet. Tip: if you have a 2nd helper available, your helper could move on to the next step & roll the balls in the maple cinnamon coating before placing them on the baking sheet.
Roll the sweet potato balls in the coating
- Roll each ball lightly in the maple cinnamon coating before placing back on the parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake in the preheated oven & enjoy!
- Place the pan of cake bites in the preheated 350° F (176° C) oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until several of the cake bites begin to crack on the surface. Then, remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes & enjoy!
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