Good afternoon, sweet friends!

In case you’ve missed it (which I can’t imagine that you have), it’s Girl Scout cookie season! People are bringing order sheets to the office and kids are selling boxes outside of local businesses. Since I’m on a *sugar detox*, I feel like I’ve been missing out on all of the goodness! My absolute favorite Girl Scout cookie is the Thin Mint. I’m drooling just thinking about it… Because I can’t inhale an entire sleeve of Thin Mints in one sitting like I probably would have otherwise, I decided to come up with an alternative to the traditional Thin Mint. These Paleo Thin Mint Bliss Balls are absolutely amazing. My sisters even admitted that these are the best paleo balls I’ve ever made. These Thin Mint balls are what dreams are made of.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. raw almonds, soaked (1 hr. minimum)
• 8 medjool dates, soaked (1 hr. minimum)
• 1/4 c. cacao powder
• 2 scoops collagen powder (use the code NATURALLYARI10 for 10% off and free shipping from Further Foods!) or 2 scoops protein powder (chocolate, vanilla or unflavored will work)
• 2 tbsp. coconut oil, melted
• 1 tbsp. chia seeds (can sub for an extra tbsp. of hemp seeds)
• 1 tbsp. hemp seeds (can sub for an extra tbsp. of chia seeds)
• 1/8 tsp. himalayan pink sea salt
• 5-10 drops peppermint essential oil

Begin by soaking your dates and almonds in warm water for at least an hour. This will make them soft enough to blend smoothly. If you’d like, you can remove the skins from the almonds once they’re done soaking. They come off pretty easily, although it’s definitely a tedious task. This step is entirely optional, but removing the skins of the almonds makes it easier for our bodies to digest them.

Add all ingredients (except the peppermint oil) to a food processor and blend until the mixture is smooth, thick and consistent throughout.

Once blended, add in a few drops of peppermint essential oil at a time, re-blend and adjust according to how strong you’d like the mint flavor. It’s very easy to add in too much peppermint, which can throw off the entire recipe.

Once you’ve reached your desired level of peppermint flavor, it’s time to form the mixture into balls! You can remove the mixture from the food processor and chill for a while so that this next step becomes easier, or you can go ahead and begin to roll your balls right from the processor. Each ball should be about 1 inch.

Freeze the bliss balls until they firm up a bit more. You can chose to roll your Thin Mint balls in cacao powder, coconut shavings, chia seeds, or eat ’em bare!

These little Thin Mint balls are so addictive – I’m ready to make another batch now!

I hope you enjoy!

Naturally,

Ari

** Some links provided within this post are affiliate links. Recipe, thoughts and opinions are my own.**