Well, hello blog.  I'm sorry I haven't had much time for you lately.  It's not that you don't mean anything to me, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to spend as much time with you as I'd like.

Life sure can be hectic with two little boys running around under my feet and other commitments of my own.  I don't know about you, but I cannot seem to achieve all that I want to achieve during any given day.  It's so frustrating.

One thing I have achieved lately is making a delicious snack that satisfies the tastebuds of my boys and my husband, and my unrelenting desire to cut back on refined sugar and carbs.  I guess you could say we are moving towards the clean eating idea.  I would like us to move there immediately with no backwards steps tomorrow, but my family have other ideas.

I do buy organic wherever possible, I have stopped buying sugar, but I still haven't managed to get away from white flour all the time.  We hardly eat loaves of bread anymore as such, but I do make crackers, tortillas or baguettes most weeks.  And invariably, I use mainly white flour as this is what my husband prefers.  Baby steps, baby steps...

Anyway, back to the point of this post, Apricot Balls.  Lots of seeds for goodness and held together with rolled oats and a sweet slurry of dried apricots and medjool dates.  A very flexible recipe, so feel free to adjust the quantities and types of seeds to suit your taste and your pantry.

My ingredients are medjool dates, organic dried apricots, water, organic unstabilised rolled oats, organic chia seeds, organic cacao nibs, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pepitas, and a homemade spice mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

This is such a super easy recipe to make.  The dates, apricots, spices and water are cooked in the Thermomix until a thick and sticky paste is created.  Then simply throw in the rest of the ingredients, whizz up until it all comes together (about 10 seconds), roll into balls and toss in extra coconut (or sesame seeds if that grabs your fancy).

If you, or your kids, prefer a smoother consistency, before you make the paste, throw the dry ingredients into the TM bowl and grind for perhaps 5-8 seconds on speed 9 to make a chunky powder (is that an oxymoron?) which you can then set aside until required.  So far, my kids are all good with the chunkier texture.

Healthy Apricot Balls

Ingredients

• 120 grams organic dried apricots
• 4-5 medjool dates
• 125 grams water
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 150 grams rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
• 1 tablespoon pepitas
• ½ tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon dessicated coconut
• 1 tablespoon cacao nibs
• additional desiccated coconut, to coat

Method

Place apricots, dates, water and spices into TM bowl and cook at 90ºC on speed 3 for 6  minutes. Add remaining ingredients (except additional desiccated coconut) and mix  thoroughly on speed 5 for 10 seconds. Roll into balls and coat with coconut.  Refrigerate for an hour or until cool.

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