Vegan Chocolate Orange Balls

You know how you find something super delicious and think 'I want to eat this every day'?  And sometimes it's even a healthy thing? Like Mangoes?

I discovered these little chocolate orange bars that made it to that 'eat every day' list.  Except for the price.  $4 or something crazy.  But they came from the health food store and list of ingredients were all things I could buy myself.  Cashews, sultanas, dates, raw cacao and cold pressed orange oil.

Did you know that cold pressed orange oil is about $75 a litre?! Even a little bottle of that stuff is outrageously expensive.  So I figured that oranges are kind of oily if you zested the skin and substituted the oil for zest.

Since making this first batch we've experimented further and discovered all other flavor combinations.   They're a hit with pretty much everyone who tries them. My hairdresser even makes them.

Go on and get your chocolate fix the healthy way.


Chocolate Orange Balls

1 cup raw cashews
1 cup sultanas
1 cup dates
1/3 – 1/2 cup raw cacao (depending on taste)
1 orange

1.     Place dates in a bowl and cover with water for 10 minutes to rehydrate.  Drain and set aside.
2.     In food processor blend cashews for a few seconds being careful not to blend too fine.
3.     Using a fine grater grate the zest from the orange.
4.     Add dates, sultanas, cacao and orange zest to cashews in processor.
5.     Blend until mixture holds together.
6.     Roll into bit size balls and eat or keep in fridge.

Variations

1.     Lime zest instead of orange zest.  Limes are not as oily as oranges so you might need to use some of the lime juice as well.
2.     Freshly grated ginger instead of the orange zest.
3.     Replace sultanas with raisins.
     Vanilla or peppermint essence.  Go easy though.