When I am running around, planning, meeting, shooting, editing etc, I need energy and I often want it quickly. So when a friend recommended Ella Woodward’s
Raw Coconut and Cacao Bites recipe, I went a little nutty (groan) and made a whole tub of them!
They’re great to prepare in advance and grab as a little pick me up, obviously healthier as a treat than a chocolate bar or bag of sweets!
Ella’s (a.k.a. ‘Deliciously Ella’) recipe call for the following ingredients:
1 cup (I used a tea-cup) of desiccated coconut
1 cup of almonds
1/2 a dozen medjool dates
4 tablespoons of cashew butter
2 tablespoons of raw cacao
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
I didn’t have cashew butter, but used almond butter instead.
I also used soft dates, rather than medjool – as that was what I had in. Of course medjool dates are supposed to be a premium product (and carry a price to match). I tried some for the first time the other day and they were superior, so you should absolutely use them if you can, but it’s not essential.
The coconut oil I bought (from the Indian section of the supermarket) also lasts a long time and I use it in lots of my dishes now. Apparently this is very healthy and quite frankly it tastes flipping fabulous, so if they say it’s a super-food I’m in.
Finally, just because I had them in the cupboard, I added some dried cranberries. They also worked well in the photos.
So Ella’s recipes says:
“Start by putting the almonds and coconut in a food processor and blend for a minute or two, until a flour starts to form. Then add the cashew butter, coconut oil and cacao blending for a few seconds before slowly adding in the dates.
Continue to blend until everything has been combined together to form a sticky mixture. This mixture can then be rolled into balls and covered in more coconut and left in the fridge to firm up for an hour or alternately you can enjoy it with a spoon straight from a cup, or be like me and eat it straight from the blender! Either way you’ll love it! If you can resist not eating the whole mixture then keep the remaining bites in the fridge in a container.”
I needed to add a table spoon of water to my mix as the almond butter was quite dry. I also threw in my cranberries at the same time as the dates and used a mixed selection of nuts.
And voila, the balls…….
