Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Tasty Little Treats (And Healthy, too!)

On my day off yesterday I decided to try my hand at making something I found over on Dish By Trish through Foodbuzz. Basically these little treats are reminiscent of larabars (which I love) but in little two-bite balls.

I based these off Trish's No Bake Cherry Date Balls but made a few slight changes.

Raw Chocolate Fruit & Nut Balls
ingredients
1cup mixed un-salted nuts (peanuts, walnuts, almonds)
2/3cup pitted medjool dates
1/3cup dried cherries
2tbs water
1tsp unsweetened cocoa
1/2tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch sea salt
Unsweetened coconut flakes (optional)

1. Place nuts and sea salt in a food processor and chop to small pieces.
2. Add cherries and dates; blend till well mixed.
3. Add cocoa, vanilla extract and water; blend until well mixed and sticky.
4. Use tbs to scoop mixture and form into balls.
5. Roll balls in coconut flakes to cover (if desired)
6. Place on cookie sheet or other flat surface, lined with wax or parchment paper and place in the freezer for an hour.

makes 14.5 balls

A few little notes: I used a 1/4cup of roasted peanuts, then a little more than 1/3cup each of almonds and walnuts. I love the taste of peanuts, but I wanted more of the health benefits from the almonds and walnuts. It's easy to pit dates just by pulling apart in half. I then cut each half in half to make smaller pieces so it would be easier to blend. I also found it to be a good idea to stir the mixture with a small spatula a few times to make sure everything was mixing and chopping well. I only used the coconut flakes on a few of the balls.

This is how our dried cherries arrive!

All the ingredients. Thankfully, our small food processor was big enough!

The nut mixture

Ready to go!

The finished product!

I like the fact that these were really easy to make, there are no added sugars and it's all healthy ingredients. The only thing I'm a little concerned about is the fact that these have to be frozen and stored in the freezer. I wish they were more portable because they are very tasty.
  • What is your favorite type of nut?
  • Do you ever use a food processor?
************
Today's workout -
4mile run
.5mile walk
lots of stretching

10 comments:

Karen Seal said...

Sounds (and looks) yummy! Thanks for sharing the recipe! :0)

Penny said...

Boy, those look good. I love almonds. I use my food processor very litte. But might have to give this recipe a try. Thanks for sharing. Have a good week.

Anonymous said...

I love love love almonds. I never use a food processor...I should give it more love.

KT80 said...

Thanks for posting this recipe. I will definitely give it a try. It seems like the perfect thing for me to grab in the morning before I go for a run.

Joanna said...

These look yummy!! Thanks for sharing :)

Rose @ Eat, Drink, and Be Meiri said...

Dates are some sort of wonderfood, I swear. These look awesome. I bet if you dipped them in melted chocolate people would think they were fancy bad for you truffles.

justme said...

i like cashews
but my daughter has nut allergy and i myself and trying to see if i have an intolerance and doing an elimination of nuts. so i just made bars with honey, sunflower seed butter, dried cranberries, raisins, dried cherries, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds....yum

gracekelle said...

This looks absolutely amazing!!!

Lisa said...

Penny, these are definitely worth getting out the food processor!

Rose, dipping in chocolate is a genius idea!

trifitmom, I'm so sorry to hear about the nut allergy but your mixture sounds really good.

Romantic Dinner said...

OH YUMMY, Colorful its recipe and amazing your thought for recipe . i loved that and nice details in the post .amazing your idea