I’ve been wracking my brains out, thinking about something for Valentine’s Day.
The first thing that comes to mind is cookies, those sugar coated (sometimes with added food colorings) heart shaped cookies, but I don’t really do that. Well, maybe for my kids’ class sometimes, and even then I do my best to not use or minimize the use of food colorings (sometimes, you can’t really avoid some colored sprinkles, right?).
So I was thinking really hard, what looks cute, can be given as a sweet gift and is somewhat healthy? and then it hit me – Energy Bars. But energy bars are not really something to put in a box of bonbons aren’t they? that’s when I had a ‘light bulb’ moment, realizing that the answer (along with the ingredients) was right in front of me all that time.
So here they are, my Energy Balls. No dairy, no gluten, no eggs and no added sugar – Just plain ol’ healthy treats.
Took me some extra time to make the mix because I was too lazy to take out the food processor and decided that my small food chopper would be enough (almost killed the motor), but if you use a decent food processor this should really take minutes.
Also, one last note: when adding water, add just enough for the mix to be nicely combined (kind of like playdough 🙂 )
And now, I’ll give you the recipe for these cuties! Valentine’s Day or not, these are excellent year round, and such a great substitute to your chocolates and candies and generally sweet tooth.
- 1 ½ Cups Walnuts - Divided
- ½ Cup Raw or Roasted Whole Almonds
- 2 Cups Pitted Dates
- 3 Tbsp shelled Flax
- 10-14 Tbsp Water - Add just enough to form playdough like mix
- ¼ Cup Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
- Extra Shredded Unsweetened Coconut for coating
- Place the almonds (only if raw, if roasted you don’t need to soak them) and dates in a bowl of hot water and soak them for 10-20 minutes (this will help to soften both ingredients a bit).
- In a food processor grind 1 cup walnuts until they become crumbs and set aside in a medium bowl. Break the other ½ cup walnuts into small pieces using your hands.
- Add the shelled flax and ¼ cup shredded coconut into the bowl with ground walnuts.
- Using a colander, drain the dates and almonds and place in a food processor.
- Blend the dates and almonds in the food processor until they become this ‘play dough’ looking mix.
- Add 5 Tbsp water to the date mix to start with, before blending (this will ease the blending and maybe save your food processor motor from overheating) and then gradually add the additional tablespoons water until you get the right consistency of mixture (like I said - Playdough)
- Once you’re done with blending the almonds and dates (you may still have chunks in the mix but that’s OK, it’s not supposed to be smooth), add them to the bowl with walnuts and flax.
- Using a wooden spoon, stir and mix all the ingredients in the bowl together until evenly combined.
- Prepare a plate with shredded coconut on the side to roll the balls in.
- Scoop one teaspoon at a time from the batter and roll into a ball and then roll in the coconut plate to give them the coconut coating (it might be easier to form balls with wet hands).
- Store in an airtight container, preferably in the fridge.
