USANA Test Kitchen: Turn Protein Snacks into Truffles

It’s the dog days of summer here in Utah, which means I haven’t turned on my oven in about a month. It’s easy to get around the convenience of oven cooking by using the stove, grill, or slow cooker. But I also love baking—which requires a setting of at least 350 degrees. I’ve encountered this dilemma before and remedied it with no-bake cookies.

While making Oreo truffles for a party—at a friend’s request—I thought of applying a similar method to USANA’s own delicious Protein Snacks:

• Blend a few Protein Snacks.
• Use something to bind the tiny morsels together.
• Smother in a delicious coating.

Tada, truffles! Actually, Protein Snack Truffles.

This is a fun, versatile recipe that your kids will love—probably because it’s a little messy. And they get a great treat at the end.

But first, this recipe calls for finding the right flavor combination. During my experiment, I used mashed ripe avocado and Neufchâtel cream cheese—tastes the same as regular cream cheese, but with one-third the fat content—as the binding agents. Halfway through, I realized ripe mashed banana would work well too—but didn’t try it.

For a total of 24 truffles, I used three Protein Snacks of each flavor: Peanutty Bliss™, Choco Chip™, and Fudge Delite™. After blending up each of the snacks I split the crumbs in half so I could try each flavor in the avocado and cream cheese.

Now for the fun part, mixing the binding ingredient with the blended Protein Snack. You get to use your hands and shape them into balls!

You can also flex your creative baking skills by finding a tasty coating. For the Peanutty Bliss I used honey Greek yogurt; Choco Chip, vanilla Greek yogurt; and Fudge Delite, unsweetened cocoa powder. Although these worked well as coatings, I wonder if dusting them with Dutch Chocolate Nutrimeal™ or French Vanilla Nutrimeal™ might work as well? Let me know in the comments what creative combinations you come up with!

That’s why this recipe is so great: you can mix and match to your sweet tooth’s delight. These truffles would be fantastic as a dessert at your next USANA party or just an afternoon snack with your kids!

Protein Snack Truffles

Ingredients:

• 9 USANA Protein Snacks (can use the same flavor, or a variety)
• 1 ripe, mashed avocado
• 2 Tbsp. Neufchâtel cream cheese
• Vanilla Greek yogurt or honey Greek yogurt for coating, or cocoa powder for dusting

Directions: Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Grind a few of the same flavor Protein Snacks in a blender or food processor. Gradually mix one Protein Snack flavor with either avocado or Neufchâtel cream cheese until well coated – it should be about the consistency of cookie dough, but not too sticky. Form into balls and place on cookie sheet. Repeat this process with remaining Protein Snacks. Place cookie sheet in the freezer for 30 minutes. Once they’ve chilled, either dip them in the vanilla or honey Greek yogurt or dust them with cocoa powder (or Dutch Chocolate Nutrimeal). Return cookie sheet to freezer for an hour. Store in refrigerator or freezer. Enjoy!

Note: Storing the truffles in the refrigerator may cause the yogurt to turn runny. If you use cocoa powder, dust lightly, the bitterness may be too much for some to handle.

I had my co-workers taste test the Protein Snack Truffles. The most popular by far was the Choco Chip with vanilla Greek yogurt. Fudge Delite came in second with a suggestion of using yogurt, instead of cocoa powder, as the coating.

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