{"id":6792,"date":"2026-07-16T15:11:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adabakes.nl\/carob-power-balletjes-recept\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T13:02:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T13:02:04","slug":"carob-power-balletjes-recept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adabakes.nl\/en\/carob-power-balletjes-recept\/","title":{"rendered":"Making carob power balls: deep chocolate flavour without refined sugar"},"content":{"rendered":"

The newest flavour in the power ball family: carob. Most people who taste one at the market in Almere first say \u201ctasty, chocolate\u201d \u2014 and then look surprised when I tell them the base isn't cocoa but carob. My trick: two parts carob, one part cocoa. This is the recipe as I make them myself.<\/p>\n

What is carob, actually?<\/h2>\n

Carob (locust bean) comes from the pods of the carob tree, which grows around the Mediterranean \u2014 in Turkey, where my family comes from, it's called ke\u00e7iboynuzu and we've eaten it for generations. The pods are dried, roasted and ground into a powder that looks surprisingly like cocoa, with two big differences: carob is naturally sweet<\/strong>, and it contains by itself no caffeine or theobromine<\/strong>. In these balls I combine it with a little cocoa powder (2:1) \u2014 that gives you the full, deep flavour of chocolate, with much less caffeine than dark chocolate.<\/p>\n

Why this ball works<\/h2>\n

Because carob is already sweet, these balls need little else: dates and raisins do the rest of the sweetening, peanut butter makes them smooth and oats give them bite. No refined sugar \u2014 just carob with a touch of cocoa for that deep, dark flavour.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up
Firm enough to take with you, soft enough to eat as they are.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two things that make the difference<\/h2>\n

One: don't grind the oats too fine<\/strong> \u2014 20 seconds is enough. You want coarse flour with some structure, not powder. Two: check the mixture before rolling<\/strong>. Squeeze a little between your fingers: if it falls apart, 1\u20132 extra dates are enough to save it.<\/p>\n

Allergens<\/h2>\n

These balls contain peanuts and oats. I make them with gluten-free oats, but they're made without gluten-containing ingredients in a kitchen where bread is also made \u2014 so traces of gluten may be present due to environmental contact. Not recommended for people with coeliac disease or severe gluten allergy.<\/p>\n

Prefer ready-made?<\/h2>\n

Every Saturday the power balls are fresh at the market in Almere (Stadhuisplein), and you can order them in the webshop in boxes of 4 or 10: see the Power Balletjes<\/a>. Questions about the recipe? Ask them on Instagram @adabakesnl<\/a> \u2014 I read everything myself.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Power balls with carob and a touch of cocoa (2:1): naturally sweet, much less caffeine than chocolate and a deep chocolate flavour \u2014 without refined sugar. The recipe as I make it for the market in Almere.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recepten"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/adabakes.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/carob-power-balletjes-rotated.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adabakes.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adabakes.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adabakes.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adabakes.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/adabakes.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6793,"href":"https:\/\/adabakes.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6792\/revisions\/6793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adabakes.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adabakes.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adabakes.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adabakes.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}