Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 416 kcal | 118 kcal |
| Protein | 6.9 g | 2 g |
| Fat | 24 g | 6.8 g |
| saturated | 8.6 g | 2.4 g |
| Carbohydrate | 44.4 g | 12.6 g |
| sugars | 38 g | 10.8 g |
| Fibre | 7.8 g | 2.2 g |
| Sodium | 10 mg | 3 mg |
Estimated from the ingredients, for the finished dried product. Actual values vary with the produce you use and how far you dry it.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Check the dried fruit is soft before it meets the processor. Hard, leathery figs or prunes refuse to break down with the dates, and you end up biting a knot of fig in an otherwise smooth ball.
- Pulse the dates, figs, prunes and raisins rather than letting the motor run. Dried fruit goes from chopped to one sticky mass in seconds, and once it does nothing else will mix into it evenly.
- Tip the chopped fruit into a bowl and work the walnuts and sunflower seeds in with your hands. Hands are the only tool that folds nuts into fruit paste without grinding them to powder.
- Add the lemon juice last and stir it right through. It is there to cut the sweetness and to loosen the paste enough to roll, so if the mixture cracks as you shape it, it wants a little more.
- Roll the balls up to 14 mm across and no larger. Anything bigger stays wet in the middle long after the outside has set, and there is no way to check a middle without ruining the ball.
- Roll each one through the flaked coconut immediately, while the surface is still tacky. Leave them sitting ten minutes and the coconut simply slides off.
- Dry them at 57 °C for 5 hours. The outside should end up dry and slightly crisp while the middle stays soft, and that contrast is the only reason to dry them at all.
- Once cooled, squeeze one: it should give at the centre and leave nothing on your fingers. Sticky means the surface never set, and sticky balls fuse into a single lump in the container.
- Layer them between baking paper in an airtight container in the fridge for three weeks. Fresh lemon juice and a great deal of natural sugar are why these belong in the cold rather than in a lunchbox all week.
