Nutrition
| Per 100 g | Per 1 oz (28 g) | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 355 kcal | 101 kcal |
| Protein | 8.2 g | 2.3 g |
| Fat | 15 g | 4.3 g |
| saturated | 5.1 g | 1.4 g |
| Carbohydrate | 50.4 g | 14.3 g |
| sugars | 38.6 g | 10.9 g |
| Fibre | 8.7 g | 2.5 g |
| Sodium | 133 mg | 38 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
- 8 1/2 cups raw cashews, soaked
- 1.8 kg dates, soaked
- 2 3/4 cups raisins
- 1 7/8 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 11 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 3/4 teaspoons vanilla essence
- 2 3/4 teaspoons salt
- 2 3/4 cups crushed cashews
- 2 3/4 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
Instructions
- Drain the cashews and dates hard and press them between towels. Soaking water carried into the bowl is the main reason a batch of these stays sticky however long it runs.
- Check the dates for stones by hand even when the packet says they are pitted. One stone meeting a processor blade chips the blade and scatters grit through the entire mixture.
- Pulse the cashews and dates together on their own until the nuts are rubble. Introducing the cocoa at this stage coats the nut pieces in fat and stops them breaking down any further.
- Add the raisins, cocoa, maple syrup, vanilla and salt and run the machine until the mixture climbs the sides as one mass. That climb is the test — anything still crumbly will not hold a ball.
- Roll with damp hands and keep each ball to about the size of a walnut. Bigger than that and the centre stays cool and wet while the outside firms.
- Spread the crushed cashews and coconut flakes on a plate and roll each ball through them with a little pressure. Pressing is what makes the coating stay put; dropped through loosely, half of it ends up on the tray.
- Dehydrate at 57 °C for 3 hours, giving each ball a quarter turn partway through so the face resting on the tray changes.
- They are ready when the outside no longer marks your fingers and the middle still gives under a squeeze. These are not meant to go hard — a ball that has firmed all the way through was left on too long.
- Keep them sealed in the fridge for three weeks or frozen for six months. On a warm bench the fruit sugar sweats and they weld to one another within days.
