You may have gathered by now that I love my food. Since I have been on my diet I very seldom reach for anything sweet - just in case I binge. So when I came across these healthy balls during Jean Haile's Women's Heath Week, I decided they would be perfect for my afternoon tea sweet fix. The recipe makes 25-30 small balls. I take 3 to work in a zip lock bag and my afternoon snack is less than 150 cals. The full recipe is featured here: http://www.jeanhailes.org.au/magazine/2013-magazine-vol-2/11-raw-cacao-and-prune-balls.
The only change I have made is to omit the unhulled sesame seeds the balls are rolled in - I found unhulled seeds impossible to find in Gympie and normal sesame seeds just get stuck in my teeth. Oh, we also call them prune and goji balls as raw cacao is too much of a mouthful.
As we had leftovers last night for dinner, I made these during the ad breaks for Sleepy Hollow which I watched with my boys.
Prune & Goji Balls
Ingredients:
1 cup raw almonds
1 cup pitted prunes, roughly chopped
1/4 cup raw cacao powder ( I got this and the goji berries from my health food store)
1/4 cup goji berries
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Grind the almonds in a food processor until you have your desired texture. I like my balls crunchy so I chopped them roughly.
Add all other ingredients and process for a few minutes until combined. The goji berries stay whole which I like but you could process them beforehand if you wanted to.
Next is the messy part. The mixture is quite sticky so I keep a small bowl of water nearby to moisten my hands as I go. A small teaspoon is all you need for each ball. Once rolled I place them in the fridge on a plate covered with plastic wrap until they are firm (usually overnight) and then individually bag them into small ziplock bags or wrap in cling wrap.
There you have it. A very yummy and healthy afternoon treat full of antioxidants and fibre.
Cheers
Tanya
