Yummy yummy chocolate balls

One of the things I love about my Thermomix is it gives you the ability to whip up sweet treats really really quickly. I can, as I did this morning, whip up in a few minutes a wholesome sugar free treat for Lily's lunchbox that beats hands down any mass produced muesli or fruit bar.

We call them chocolate balls....and they are really good.



There's lots of recipes for these types of balls but most of them contain nuts, which for school lunch boxes is a big no-no. So I've played around with a few ingredients and found that a mix of dried apricots and millet is a fabulous substitute for milled almonds, and it has a similar texture.

First up throw in the TMX:
130g dried apricots (we use organic sulphur free ones)
20g of millet (you can substitute with the same amount of millet flour)

Grind for 10 seconds on speed 8.

Then add:
120g dates
20-25g raw cacao powder (I love the Loving Earth brand)
10-15g of coconut oil
35g shredded coconut
Splash of vanilla essence

Mix again for 30 seconds on speed 6.

It'll look a little something like this:




Roll into balls and pop in the fridge, keeping an eye on them to make sure this doesn't happen!




I use all organic ingredients where possible, and the majority of these items can be found in Safeway. If you don't have access to a good health food store that stocks preservative free dried fruit (and many don't!), Safeway does have an excellent range of organic dried fruits and nuts. You can also find coconut oil there in the Asian/Indian food section.

You can substitute the cacao powder with cocoa powder, but I much prefer cacao powder. Raw cacao powder isn't heat treated like cocoa is and retains all of its antioxidants. It's also a great source of magnesium.

I buy my raw cacao powder in 1kg bags from Loving Earth. I also prefer their coconut oil too.

If you do substitute with cocoa powder, I'd suggest an organic and fair-trade Dutch-processed cocoa powder, such as the Green and Blacks. Dutch-processed cocoa Is darker and less bitter and acidic than the stuff from the supermarket. It's a vastly superior taste.

I use cacao powder for raw foods such as these balls and my raw chocolate (yep, we make raw chocolate in the TMX!) and use the G&B cocoa powder for baked goods.

These are so super easy to make. I often get the kids to make them. There's a great maths lesson in weighing the ingredients into the TMX, selecting the right time and speed. And then they roll them together!

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