Cookies and Cream Protein Truffles
⏱ 30 min💪 6g protein per truffle🔥 ~110 cal🍽 16 truffles
Cream cheese is what makes these taste like a cake pop instead of a protein ball. It carries the powder in fat rather than water, so nothing goes chalky, and it firms up hard in the fridge so the truffles roll cleanly. The chocolate shell sets on contact if the centers go into the freezer first.
Ingredients
- 8 oz (226g) light cream cheese, softened
- 3/4 cup (90g) vanilla casein or whey-casein blend protein powder
- 6 chocolate sandwich cookies (60g), finely crushed, plus 1 extra for topping
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 2 tablespoons milk, as needed
- 4 oz (113g) dark or white chocolate, for dipping
Instructions
- Beat the cream cheese until completely smooth, then beat in the maple syrup, vanilla, and salt.
- Add the protein powder in two additions on low speed, then stir in the crushed cookies. The dough should feel like firm cookie dough, so add milk a teaspoon at a time if it crumbles when squeezed.
- Chill the dough 20 minutes. Soft dough will not roll into anything but a smear.
- Roll 16 balls of about 1 tablespoon each onto a parchment-lined plate and freeze 15 minutes.
- Melt the chocolate in 20 second bursts, dip each cold truffle using a fork, tap off the excess against the bowl, and set it back on the parchment. Sprinkle the reserved crushed cookie over the tops before the coating hardens.
- Store airtight in the fridge up to 1 week or in the freezer up to 2 months, and serve them cold since they soften quickly in a warm room.
Tips
- Cold truffle, warm chocolate. If the centers are room temperature the coating slides off into a puddle at the base, while 15 minutes in the freezer makes the shell set on contact.
- Casein gives a truffle you can roll, whey gives one that sweats. Whey holds less water, so a whey-only dough goes tacky in the fridge overnight. If it is all you have, add 2 extra tablespoons of crushed cookie to soak up the moisture.
- Skip heavily sweetened stevia or sucralose powders here. Nothing gets baked, so there is no heat to cook off the aftertaste, and it comes through clearly in the finished truffle.
FAQ
- Can I use Greek yogurt instead of cream cheese?
- No. Yogurt carries far too much free water and the dough will not hold a ball no matter how much powder you add. Cream cheese is doing structural work here.
- Do I have to dip them in chocolate?
- Not at all. Rolling the chilled balls in extra crushed cookie crumbs or cocoa powder works and saves about 40 calories each.
- Can I use plant-based protein powder?
- Yes, but pea and rice proteins are grittier. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of milk and let the dough rest 10 minutes before rolling so the powder fully hydrates.
- Do these need to be refrigerated?
- Yes. The cream cheese base is perishable, and the truffles lose their shape within about 20 minutes at room temperature.
