Raw, orange infused chocolaty energy balls
image shot at Aro Ha
If I would need to choose just one snack/dessert to eat for the rest of my life it would be these choco balls! My dear friend Eva Kiviluoma had prepared these as a snack for us a few years ago to eat during our little road trip to her summer house in Finland. When she opened the snack box the car was filled with the delicious smell of orange and cacao. After the first bite, my taste buds were totally in love!
I’m now sharing the original recipe by Eva here in my blog so that you too can enjoy these healthy, nutritious, and yummy little balls whenever you feel like you need some extra energy. They are super easy to make and you can easily vary the recipe depending on what you have in your cupboards.
I’m a big fan of using 100% pure food grade essential oils in food because they intensify the flavors and take my cookings to a whole new culinary level. They are also super handy at those times when you would really need a certain herb or fruit mentioned in the recipe but forgot to buy it. I often replace lemon or orange peel with the essential oil or add a little bit of lime essential oil to woks, a drop of cardamom to hot cacao, clove essential oil to gingerbread cookies, and so forth. In these choco balls, I used orange Vitality essential oil from Young Living to give these balls an intense orange flavor. If using essential oils in cooking is new to you you’re welcome to contact me for any questions you might have. The most important thing to know is that the essential oil you’re using is 100% pure and classified as a food supplement. Young Living is the only essential oil company that has a whole essential oil food supplement line with oils you can ingest. Just drop me a message if you would like to know more or read how I use the oils in my daily life.
But now, the recipe!
INGREDIENTS:
400g of dates
5 tbls coconut oil
5 tsp raw cacao
0,75 dl oat flakes
1 tsp sea salt or himalayan salt
8-10 drops of orange vitality essential oil (or the peel of one big orange)
Grated coconut to decorate
HOW TO PREPARE:
Melt the coconut oil if not liquid already.
If using dried dates, soak them for about one hour
Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix together with a spoon. Then, with a stick blender, smash and mix the ingredients to create a smooth paste.
With the help of a tablespoon take small amounts of paste and roll into balls.
Roll the balls in grated coconut.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week.
Checkout also my cardamom infused power balls with sesame seeds recipe.
Cardamom essential oil gave a nice twist to these power balls with sesame seeds. If you don’t have cardamom essential oil you can always replace it with dried cardamom. More about it in the recipe.
