Raw carrot cake bliss balls

February 14, 2014

 

In lieu of having a whole four days off work in a row last week (golden) I packed a bag, bought a train ticket, crossed my fingers that no more of the railway track ended up in the atlantic (yep, I was on that line) and battled my way down to Atlantis the South West for the weekend to visit my lovely Aunt and Uncle. They live in a tiny village just outside Exeter in an absolutely beautiful house, that is -most importantly- high up on a hill. I absolutely love that area of the country, beautiful scenery, a thriving city and a great foodie culture, as well as being home to a burgeoning new age and alternative living scene (if this is your thing then Totnes is the place for you.) When my Vegetarian Cafe Pipe ream eventually comes to fruition it will definitely be located down there!

My family are big chocaholics so I made some raw cacao, date and walnut truffles to take down with me (balanced out with several bars of Dairy Milk, I’m no fool) but I wanted to mix it up a bit and make something non-chocolatey to take so I dreamt up these fruity little carrot cake numbers. Made entirely of raw carrot, dried fruit, nuts, coconut and warm spices, there is no actual cake involved, but they’re not a bad alternative. Thanks to the carrot and apricots, they’re jammed full of Vitamin A giving Beta Carotene, to fight off colds and make you glow.Plus you’ll be getting loads of benefits from the spices. Ginger is a potent anti-inflammatory and fantastic for digestion, whilst cinnamon helps to regulate blood sugar levels and keep them stabilized (which is what makes this an extra, extra good snack). As you can see I used lots of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg because I adore these spices and can never have too much, but feel free to reduce the quantities.

Ingredients

• 2-3 large carrots, grated
• 1/2 cup dessicated coconut + extra for coating
• 2/3 cup dried apricots
• 1/2 cup raisins, soaked in boiling water for 30 mins.
• 3 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tbsp sweet freedom/agave syrup
• 2/3 cup walnuts
• 4 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tsp ginger
• 2 tsp nutmeg

1. In a food processor, blend together the grated carrot (reserving 3 tbsp), coconut and dried apricots.
2. Add the melted coconut oil, walnuts (reserving 1 handful), spices and agave.
3. Using a wooden spoon, mix the raisin and reserved carrot into the mixture. Break the remaining walnuts up into smaller pieces and mix these in too for extra crunch.
4. Using your fingers, roll the mixture into small ball shapes and place on a tray lined with greaseproof paper.
5. At this point you can add some coatings or toppings. I like to keep mine fairly simple as there are quite a lot of ingredients in the balls themselves, so I rolled half of mine in dessicated coconut and kept the other half plain. But other nice options would be chopped nuts, chia seeds or pumpkin seeds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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