This time of year I find half-bags of dried fruit in the kitchen cupboard left over from various Christmas baking projects…
and I am also looking forward to school lunches and hoping I can do a better job of putting healthy stuff in the box… bliss balls are the answer!
Bliss balls have gone main-stream in the last few years and if you haven’t discovered them yet, you are missing out. They are also very easy to make in a blender and reasonably healthy (they do pack a calorie punch though so 1-2 would be a filling and refined sugar free snack). They can be frozen, store well and are indestructible in a lunchbox – all things to recommend them, from my perspective!
Bliss Balls
Ingredients
- 1 cup pecans (or other nuts) and dates (fresh ones are best or soak dried ones for a few hours in water)
- ¼ cup sultanas
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp each ground ginger and allspice
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- a pinch of salt
- 1 orange
For Decoration:
- 2 tbsp desiccated coconut
- 24 pumpkin seeds, finely chopped
- 24 dried cranberries, finely chopped
Method
- Blend the nuts in a food processor until finely chopped, then add dates (drained if soaking them), sultanas, cocoa powder, cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, allspice, pinch of salt and the grated zest of the orange.
- Blend all with the juice of half the orange.
- When the mixture has formed into one ball, remove from the processor and cut into 12 equal pieces.
- Roll each into a ball (the mixture can be a bit sticky at this point, but wet your hands if need be), then roll one third of the balls in desiccated coconut, one third with pumpkin seeds and the last third in cranberries.
- Store in the fridge or freezer until ready to eat.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag #coromandelflavour – I love to see what you’ve been making and any feedback is really welcome.