Sour cherry chocolate bliss balls - allergy friendly, coconut free

These little bliss balls are gluten free and coconut free!

We often do a breakfast snack platter at home that has a little slice of cheese, some apple, bliss ball, dried chickpeas, a toast sandwich (so the spread doesn’t get everywhere).

I don’t know why I got into this habit, I think because I liked the idea of giving them a variety of things for breakfast, also my youngest went through a stage of only eating dried chickpeas for breakfast… She’s a weird one.

I had to stop with the bliss balls on daycare days as they always contained cashews or almonds which my oldest child’s little friend was anaphylactic too, so I was weary of giving them to her right before daycare in case Scarlett had some leftover under her nails.

So I came up with this recipe that had no tree nuts, peanuts, gluten, dairy, no coconut and no sesame, and is safe for a no nut school policy. Great for older kids lunchboxes and adults too!

Makes approx 15 balls so feel free to double or quadruple the recipe :)

Ingredients:

60g quinoa flakes (8 tablespoons)

30g sour cherry (4 tablespoons) - you can also sub for any kind of dried fruit.

30g dates (about 5 large dates)

20g cacao butter

15g pumpkin seeds (2 tablespoons)

1 generous tablespoon rice syrup (can also use honey or maple syrup)

2 tablespoons boiling water

1 tablespoon cocoa

small pinch of salt

Method:

In a bain-marie, melt the cocoa butter.

Mix quinoa, rice syrup, cocoa butter, pinch of salt and boiling water together in a bowl.

Chop up sour cherries, dates, pumpkin seeds and cocoa nibs and stir into the quinoa mix along with the cocoa.

This can also be done in a food processor too.

Roll into balls and place in the fridge to set for half an hour.

These little babies are packed with nutrients, Quinoa is protein-rich and high in amino acids, sour cherries have naturally occurring melatonin which helps your sleep cycle... I'll let you know if these are magical sleeping balls that will keep my kids from waking up at night... probably not, but I can dream oh no wait, I can't dream, they keep waking me up!

Enjoy :)

Keen to use any of these organic ingredients in the recipe pop over HERE to Pure Nature. The wholefoods section alone will keep you busy for a while, it's HUGE!