Scandinavian Recipe #3: Swedish Chocolate Balls (Chokladboll)

Coconut and Nonpareil versions

      Chokladboll is a Swedish confection that is often one of a Swedish child's first recipes that they are allowed to make on their own. This is a no-bake cookie/cake/ball that ended up being fairly simple with a few twists. On to the recipe. 

The ingredients.

•  4 C regular rolled oats
• 1-1/4 C white sugar 
• 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 C butter (softened)
• 2 TBSP strong coffee
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 oz unsweetened chocolate (melted)
• 1/3 C coconut flakes

 Directions

1. Mix the oats, sugar, and cocoa together in a bowl. Add the butter, and use your hands to mix the ingredients together to make a thick dough. Mix in the coffee, vanilla, and chocolate until thoroughly blended.
2. Place the coconut flakes in a small bowl. Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll between your hands to make small balls, about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Roll the balls in the coconut flakes. Balls are ready to eat, or may be refrigerated 2 hours to become firmer.

"Batter" about to be shaped.

      The recipe is simply mixing ingredients into a bowl and then rolling them into golf balls. While the mixing is easy, the rolling into the golf balls is time consuming and not the easiest. I'd recommend having a helper when you are making these. It took me around 45 minutes to make 1 whole batch from start to finish by myself. The main issue I had was in the actual rolling of the balls. The dough did not hold together very well at first.They just wouldn't hold their shape at first. I decided to add an additional TBSP of coffee. You will notice in the pictures that I had some trouble keeping them round. I decided  to shape them into cubes about halfway through the process. The sprinkles or coconut  adhered much better after I made cubes.
     I found a  few other Chokladboll recipes that mentioned that you can eat these "fresh", refrigerated for an hour or even freeze them for several days ahead of time. We tried all 3 ways and I found that refrigerated produced the nicest texture. Freezing them made them too difficult to eat, and the fresh ones just fell apart to easily when lifted to the mouth. At the very least I would let them sit and meld overnight at the very least.
      I have made this recipe 3 times as of June 1st. I made them for our Super Bowl guests, for my immediate family and for one of the work "birthday days". They were a hit at all 3 occasions. The coconut versions ended up being slightly more popular than the sprinkle/non-nonpareil versions, but the sprinkle/nonpareil versions were much appreciated for those individuals who do not enjoy coconut. 
     When TH2 comes around I will be making these for the dessert table. They are relatively easy to make and they fill a different chocolate niche than the few other chocolate dishes that I regularly make. I feel 1.5 to 2 batches will be plenty for around 50 people. The fact that they can be made several days ahead of time is a great boon too. 

Lone ball