Date & orange blitz balls

These blitz balls are a treat that leans to the healthier side.  It contains no added sugar or bad saturated or trans fats.  It does contain healthy nuts and dried fruit and with the addition of a little cocoa you'd be forgiven for thinking this is a chocolaty treat.

As for the preparation, you simply gather all your ingredients and blitz them in the food processer to form a fine but sticky texture that can be rolled into small ball shapes.  The addition of the orange zest really adds the aroma and citrusy flavour that makes these treats a standout, so it isn't an ingredient I would be inclined to omit.

These little treats are fantastic for morning or afternoon tea or a treat for any time as a healthier alternative to other not so good snacks.

Date & orange blitz balls

Ingredients:

13/4 cups pitted dates
3/4 cups pecans
1 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup macadamia oil (or use coconut oil)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
Zest of 1 orange
Extra coconut and cocoa powder to dust

1.  Place pitted dates into a food processer and process until fine texture forms
2.  Add the remaining ingredients and process until the texture resembles breadcrumbs.  When pressed together the mixture should stick.
3.  Take tablespoons of mixture and form into ball shapes.
4.  Dust blitz balls in the extra coconut or cocoa powder.

Chocolate fondue

Happy Valentine's Day! Love it or not, it's a day that certainly gets a lot of attention. As a romantic at heart, I have nothing against a day celebrated with food, flowers and fizzy.

Personally, I'm not into the OTT or extravagent valentine's day gestures. In fact, the more thought put in behind a meal shared, a new recipe tried, a candle lit or a song played, the more my heart swoons. But that's just me and everyone should celebrate in their own way. I am all for that.

However you choose to celebrate, or not, I hope you'll try this chocolate and contreau fondue. I used mars bar chocolate bars but feel free to use another chocolate bar variety or just plain chocolate if you prefer.

For dipping into the fodue, I prepared a platter of goodies which consisted of berry marshamallows, almond biscotti and fresh strawberries. Each delivered a unique texture and was delicous with the chocolate sauce.

Chocolate & Contreau Fondue Sauce

Ingredients:
3 x 55g mars bars or equivalent in any chocolate
100ml cream
30ml contreau liquer

1. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate and cream. Stir in the contreau.
2. Serve in a dipping bowl accompanied by your favourite fruits and cookies.

Individual orange almond syrup cakes

In yesterday's post I wrote that Mr Shady Pine and I were to celebrate Australia Day with our lovely friends Peter and Maria and a barbecue lunch at their place.

I mentioned that I made a batch of these orange almond syrup cakes without dairy for my lactose intolerant friend. Having recently baked with macadamia oil, I decided to use this again in place of butter. I'd never made these before yesterday, so once they were out of the oven, Mr Shady Pine and I had to test one out just in case they weren't up to scratch....luckily they were delicious.


The texture of these cakes is quite dense but moist at the same. And the addition of the orange syrup makes these little cakes sing! You can read the recipe below.

Before arriving at Peter and Maria's place, Peter and I had an email conversation that went a little something like this:

Me: 'You know Peter that all the food these days gets photogrphed for the blog. Are you ok if I take photos?'

Peter: 'Yes that's fine'

Me: 'Do you want me to use real names or aliases?'

Peter: 'Simple equation. If food is good=real names. If food is bad=aliases.'

Peter and Maria are their real names.

Being foodies themselves, Peter and Maria laid on a wonderful spread so while the meat was cooked on a barbecue, the rest of the meal was way more upmarket than an everyday backyard barbecue.


We started with some prepared nibblies which were really moorish. Baked walnut filled prunes wrapped in bacon, spiced olives, and smoked salmon and dill. While I went back for more of each of these, my favourite were the bacon wrpped prunes with the walnut filling resulting in a crunchy, sweet and salty appetiser.


Next came the main meal of marinated lamb and chicken kebabs, rosemary potatoes and big colourful salad. The chicken kebabs were Peter's creation; moroccan marinade while the lamb kebabs were inspired by Maria. These were marinated in the most intriguing marinade I had ever heard of and the recipe comes from her Russian father. This marinade consisted of mayonnaise and mineral water! The result was really delicious lamb with no hint of mayonnaise which had tenderised the meat.


To finish, Peter took out of the oven his famous chocolate puddings drizzled with rasberry sauce. These are not as sickly sweet as a fondant which is a very good thing after a full meal. They are light in texture but still choclatey and rich enough to be perfect with a coffee.

By the end of the day we were thoroughly full and satisfied from this wonderful shared feast our friends had put on....ahhh bliss!

Individual orange syrup almond cakes
Makes 12

Ingredients:
½ cup macadamia oil
¾ cup raw caster sugar
2 eggs
1 ¼ cups self raising flour
1 cup almond meal
Zest from 1 orange

Orange Syrup
Zest & juice from 1 orange
½ cup raw caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180 C. Prepare a 12 hole muffin tin.
2. In a mixing bowl, add sugar and macadamia oil and beat with a wooden spoon until sugar starts to dissolve. Add one egg at a time and beat until creamy and the sugar is fully dissolved.
3. Mix in the flour, almond meal and orange zest.
4. Distribute the cake mixture in the muffin tin.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes, testing if ready with a wooden skewer. When cooked take out of the oven and leave the cakes in the pan ready for the syrup topping.
6. For the syrup, add the orange juice, zest and sugar to a small saucepan over low heat. Allow the sugar to dissolve and bring the syrup to a simmer. Simmer and do not stir the mixture for about 5 minutes until the syrup has thickened slightly.
7. Using a wooden skewer, pierce through a few holes in each cake.
8. Pour over each cake in the muffin tin the hot orange syrup.
9. Leave for 10 minutes for the syrup to be absorbed before removing the cakes from the tin and letting cool on a cake rack.

Choc chip & coconut cookies

When I saw this recipe over at Wholesome Cook for wholemeal choc chip and coconut cookies, I knew I had to make them immediately. See the recipe here http://wholesomecook.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/wholemeal-coconut-and-choc-chip-cookies/

Not only do they include my favourite indulgance (dark chocolate), they are also packed with delicious coconut and the recipe calls for wholemeal flour instead of white. The thing I really liked about this recipe is that it replaces butter with macadamia oil. I've often used macadamia oil in baking before but never in a cookie so knew I had to try it.

Apart from macadamia oil being a delicious rich substitute, it is a really smart way of cutting out some saturated fat without losing any of the taste. So after a quick pantry check I confirmed that I had most of the ingredients already aside from the chocolate chips. A drive to the local shop to pick some up and I was ready to bake!

The cookie mixture was really straightforward and only took a minute to make. This is a really good stand by recipe to have on hand for when you are strapped for time and need to produce a treat.



Tablespoon dollops of mixture on a baking tray and 15 minutes in the oven is all it took. Do let these cool down a little before eating. I did not do this. I did however devour one straight out of the oven. It was chewy and gooey and all round delicious!