Although in other places there might be signs of spring already, in Nordic we are still suffering through the long dark winter days. Fortunately in Sweden we have our fika time to help us through the day. I used to bake the chocolate balls with crunchy peanut butter filling for Honey to take with him and he shared some with his colleagues. To my surprise, those little vegan desserts won the hearts of all. So I am sharing those little balls to bring a bit sweetness and warmth to you, if you’re also struggling through cold winter. :)

Kitchen Gadgets: Oven

Ingredients

Chocolate dough

• ¼ cup (60ml) organic canola oil
• ½ cup (125ml) sugar
• 2 tbsp light syrup
• 3 tbsp soy milk
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• ¾ cup (180ml) all purpose flour
• ½ cup (125ml) cocoa power
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt

Peanut Butter Filling dough

• 1/3 cup (80ml) crunchy peanut butter
• ½ cup (125ml) powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp soymilk
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven at 175 °C ( 350 °F).
2. In a large bowl, mix the oil, sugar, syrup, soymilk and vanilla extract together, blend well with a wired whisk.
3. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and mix well.
4. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients gradually, mix well until it forms into dough. Set aside.
5. To make the filling dough, put peanut butter, powdered sugar, soymilk and vanilla extra together and mix really well. This might look a bit thin at the beginning, but once you start mixing they will come together nicely and eventually form into a dough.
6. Divide the filling dough into 18 parts, or take 2 tsp per ball and form them with your hand into a small ball.
7. Now let’s make the chocolate wrap by taking 1 tbsp per ball chocolate dough to form a “nest” shape, put one filling ball in the middle, then fold and knead them into a ball.
8. Place them on the baking sheet, and bake for 10 minutes.
9. Leave them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes more before transport them onto wire rack to cool.
10. Tip: I found this cookie tastes the best when it’s warm. So you can preheat the cookies for 10 seconds in the microwave oven before you eat them!