Last weekend I went a little ball cray, and perhaps a little coconut crazy as well since all these recipes include desiccated coconut.  The problem is that they are so dang easy to make, and the kids love getting involved.  Although it is a great way to get them involved in food prep, it probably diminishes the outcome by about half.

On Friday, I made ‘Power Balls’ which I discovered and modified from my German Thermomix book.  These are basically date-nut balls with a bit of orange punch.  The kids all love them and I feel good giving them an energizing afternoon snack that they can get involved in. (the dark balls on the right of the picture)

On Saturday, my five year old son was begging to make what he calls ‘Snowballs’ that came from an old childhood cookbook of mine with the original name, ‘Quick-Energy Pickups’ (the balls on the left in the picture).  I think they get the quick energy from the use of 1 cup of powdered sugar which I can’t bear the thought of now, so I played around with the recipe to lower the sugar and to make it vegan.  For those in germany, I recommend using a pure organic product such as Rapunzel’s Erdnussmus which is one of the only products I have found that is 100% peanuts. 

On Sunday morning, I was flipping through my new ‘A Taste of Vegetarian’ by Thermomix which has so many fun and healthy recipes, that I decided I had to try yet another ball recipe.  This one is called ‘Carob Bites’.  I haven’t really used carob much or been a fan of other recipes I tried it in.  This recipe mixes carob, tahini and honey for a really unique flavor.  Obviously many vegans will find issue with the honey, and rice syrup could be easily substituted.  The other issue is that it does have quite a bit of sweetener. I was a little confused by the recipe in that it instructs you to cut into squares and then roll it in this ‘LSA Plus’ mix.  I ended up making the squares into balls, and that made it a bit more time consuing, but for my last few treats, I rolled the squares in the LSA Plus mix, and that worked fine and would make this a really quick treat. The LSA Plus that you make to roll these in is highly recommended.  It makes a fair amount, and I have been keeping it in my fridge to add some goodness daily to smoothies, salads, cereals or whatever strikes my fancy.  I did not add the ‘pimento’ as in my mind that is marinated red peppers and is totally out of place.  However, I recognize that ‘piment’ is allspice in German, so that would make sense in this recipe (I will need to research this before I do my next batch).

As a final note, although I was inspired by my super duper Thermomix to make these recipes, I think any high powered blender   would do, and you should be able to figure out the recipes.  Just keep in mind that the speeds on the Thermomix go from 1-10 with 10 being the highest.  However, I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to buy a Thermomix to simplify your life:-)

Power Balls
A few of my own modifications, but very popular with the kids.

INGREDIENTS:

- 250 grams almonds
- 2 tablespoons flax seed
- 200 grams dates, stoned
- 1 orange zest
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 6 tablespoons orange juice
- coconut for rolling

METHOD:

1. Put the orange zest, flax seed and almonds in the mixing bowl for 10 sec / level 10 to grind finely. (see note to use a whole orange instead)

2. Put the dates, vanilla and cinnamon in for 15 seconds / level 10 grind.

3. Add the orange juice and mix 10 seconds / level 3 mix.

4. For each 1 tsp of the ground mixture, make a ball of about 3 cm. Roll in coconut.

5. Keep in the refrigerator.

SOURCE: Thermomix

Quick-Energy Pickups

Modified to a lower sugar/vegan version.

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1/3 cup rice syrup
- 1/2 cup powdered soy milk
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup coconut

METHOD:

1. Mix all ingredients except coconut.

2. Roll into bite-sized balls and roll balls in coconut.

3. Store in refrigerator until ready to eat.

SOURCE: Betty Crocker’s Cookbook for Boys and Girls

Carob Bites

- 60 grams carob powder
- 220 grams tahini
- 290 grams honey
- 170 grams soy milk powder
- 2 tablespoons LSA Plus

METHOD:

1. Place all ingredients except LSA plus into the Thermomix bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 4.

2. Tip onto a clean work surface and press out into 2 cm thick rectangle. Cut into bite sized pieces, roll in LSA Plus and refrigerate.

SOURCE: A Taste of Vegetarian

LSA Plus

A great healthy topping for cereal or salads or mix in for smoothies.

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 measuring cup flax seed
- 1 measuring cup sunflower seeds
- 1 measuring cup almonds
- 1/2 measuring cup goji berries
- 1/2 measuring cups desiccated coconut
- 1/2 measuring cup pimento

(the measuring cup refers to the cup on the top of the Thermomix which is about 1/2 cup(?), but the exact amount is not really important.  The important thing is that you have the same measure of the first 3 ingredients and 1/2 of that measure for the second 3)
METHOD:

1. Using the measuring cup front eh top of the thermomix, place the flaxseed into the Thermomix and mill for 5 seconds on speed 9.

2. Add the remaining ingredients and set dial to closed lid position. Pulse the Turbo button twice for 1 second each.

SOURCE: A Taste of Vegetarian