Sweet Things

APRICOT ENERGY BALLS

COCONUT KISSES

HALVA

WHITE ‘CHOCOLATE’

CALCIUM CANDIES

SELENIUM SWEETS

MACA BLISS BALLS

CHRISTMAS SWEETS

COCONUT ICE

RAW FRUIT AND NUT CHOCOLATE

CASHEW CREAM

TOFFEE SPREAD

CHOCOLATE SAUCE

CHOCOLATE SPREAD

When I make sweets, I use measuring cups to make life easy. The basic recipe is 2 cups dried fruit to 1 cup nuts or seeds. They are best made in a high power blender or food grinder, but if you don’t have one a food processor will do fine. Use dried dates, unless otherwise stated.

They are so popular, especially with children. It is such an easy way to introduce healthy snacks, and incredibly simple to make. You can use whatever combination of nuts and dried fruits that you choose; listed here are some of my favourites. Decorated with sesame seeds or grated coconut, they make lovely homemade gifts. If you’re a chocolate fan, you can melt chocolate and dip the balls in them for chocolate coated candies. I make my own raw chocolate and dip them in that. Each recipe makes about 25 sweets.

METHOD

Grind the nuts or seeds, either in a food grinder or high power blender. Remove them and put them in a bowl or a food processor. Grind the dried fruit and add that to your bowl or food processor. Add any extra ingredients in with your mixture. If you’re doing it by hand, mix together firmly with a wooden spoon. If you’re doing it in the food processor, process until it becomes one solid mass; this will take a few minutes, be patient. With either method, it may be that you need to add a few drops of water or a splash of agave to hold it all together – be careful though, because too much and it will go all soggy. Once it’s become a single solid mass, take walnut-sized balls of the mixture and roll between the palms of your hands to form balls. Store in the fridge.

APRICOT ENERGY BALLS

Both apricots and raisins are high in iron, which is especially important for women.

150 g/5 oz walnuts

125 g/4 oz dried apricots

125 g/4 oz raisins

1 tsp cinnamon powder

COCONUT KISSES

Fresh dates and coconut go really well together and make a charming snack just as they are.

100 g/3 ½ oz fresh brown coconut

125 g/4 oz fresh dates

125 g/4 oz raisins

1 tbsp cacao powder

HALVA

When I make these, I find it really hard not to eat them all as I make them. If I want to have any left after the family has got to them, I have to triple or quadruple the recipe

250 g/8 oz tahini

125 g/4 oz raisins

125 g/4 oz dates

1 tbsp vanilla powder

WHITE ‘CHOCOLATE’

Although they may not look anything like their namesake, they have a similarly luxurious creamy taste.

250 g/8 oz cashews

125 g/4 oz dates

125 g/4 oz raisins

CALCIUM CANDIES

Both almonds and figs are very high in calcium, so these are especially suitable to give to children.

125 g/4 oz almonds

250 g/8 oz dried figs

1 tbsp lemon juice

SELENIUM SWEETS

Brazil nuts are the highest natural source of selenium. Good for the boys!

125 g/4 oz brazil nuts

125 g/4 oz raisins

125 g/4 oz dates or dried apricots

1 tbsp cacao powder

MACA BLISS BALLS

Maca is one of my favourite superfoods, I eat it most days. Here’s an easy way to get it in you that everyone loves.

125 g/4 oz tahini

125 g/4 oz raisins

1 tbsp maca

CHRISTMAS SWEETS

Like miniature Christmas puddings.

125 g/4 oz almonds

125 g/4 oz dried figs

125 g/4 oz raisins

1 tsp cinnamon

juice ½ orange

pinch ground cloves

pinch grated nutmeg

Makes about 25 sweets // Takes 15 minutes
You need either a food processor and a grinder, or a high power blender

Almonds are the only alkaline nuts, all other nuts are acidic, so they are the ones I like to use best. Coconut is the easiest nut for the body to digest; all other nuts are quite taxing for the liver.

COCONUT ICE

A very popular sweet. If you’re feeling lazy, miss out the beetroot and make a plain white sweet. If you can’t get fresh beetroot juice, best to omit it rather than use artificial colouring. Beetroot juice has a sweet taste so it won’t affect the flavour of your candy adversely.

400 g/13 oz creamed coconut

250 g/8 oz dates

1 beetroot, peeled and juiced

2 tbsp grated coconut

You can use the blocks of creamed coconut you find in Asian stores, although these are not raw. As coconut is a saturated fat it is more heatstable, so it’s not so vital that we eat it raw, unlike most other fats. If you prefer your recipe to be fully raw, you can use the flesh of a coconut to make your own by following the instructions for nut butter on page 38. Or you can buy something called coconut butter from the USA and the continent which is the same as creamed coconut: this is the whole flesh, pressed. Coconut oil is the fat removed (although confusingly, many companies in the UK sell coconut oil and label it coconut butter, as it comes to us in solid rather than liquid form). However you choose to purchase it, either leave it in a warm place to melt, or break it into chunks, and put it in the food processor, processing until it turns into a runny mass with no lumps. Break down the dates in the food processor separately, until they form a homogenized mass. Then mix the dates and coconut together in the food processor until you get a smooth paste.

Divide the mixture into two halves. Add the beetroot juice to one half of the mixture a few drops at a time, until it is a nice pink colour. Press the white half into a 23 cm (9 inch) lined tray or silicon mould, and then press the pink half on top. Sprinkle grated coconut evenly over the top, and press in. Leave to set in the fridge for a few hours. When it is hard chop into squares.

Makes about 45 squares
Takes 20 minutes
You need a food processor or high power blender

If you ever get the chance try jelly coconut, this is the unripe coconut, which is very popular in Asia, but doesn’t get imported to the UK much. You hack the top off the coconut, drink the juice, and scoop the soft, jelly-like meat out with a spoon – it’s absolutely exquisite.

RAW FRUIT AND NUT CHOCOLATE

When I wrote the first edition of this book, we didn’t know what raw chocolate was. It was American raw food pioneer David Wolfe who popularized its usage, and our company was one of the first to sell raw chocolate in Europe, back in 2005. I think we were actually the first people in the world to make raw chocolate bars. Now raw chocolate is almost more well known than the raw food diet itself. People are understandably attracted to the idea of something that tastes so luxurious and decadent and yet is so superhealthy and good for you. Here’s a basic recipe to get you started. Have fun!

100 g/3 oz coconut oil

100 g/3 oz cacao nibs

100 g/3 oz carob powder

1 tbsp agave syrup

1 tbsp vanilla powder

50 g/1½ oz raisins

50 g/1½ oz chopped nuts e.g. brazils, cashews, hazelnuts

Melt the coconut oil in a heat-proof bowl stood in a pan of simmering water, or a porringer or a Thermomix. Grind the nibs in your grinder or high power blender. Add the carob to the high power blender or transfer to a food processor (I prefer Peruvian carob to Mediterranean, it is sweeter and more caramelly). Add the agave, vanilla, and coconut oil and process again until smooth. Stir in the raisins and nuts by hand. When your chocolate is ready it should be a thick pouring consistency. Pour into silicon moulds, or line a tray with greaseproof paper, silver foil or cling film. If you’re in a hurry, you can put it in the freezer to set – in silicon moulds it just takes 10 minutes. Otherwise, put it in the fridge – it will take 2 hours in a normal tray or 30 minutes in silicon moulds. Keeps well stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a month.

Cacao in its pure form is a powerhouse of nutrients including magnesium, sulphur, iron and antioxidants. Chocolate has a bad reputation, but it’s the hydrogenated fats, refined sugars, and processed dairy products that go into conventional chocolate bars that are a problem, not the actual cacao bean itself.

Makes about 40 squares
Takes 15 minutes, with up to 2 hours setting time
You need a grinder or high power blender

The Greek philosopher Hippocrates famously said, “Let food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food.”

CASHEW CREAM

The cashews you buy in supermarkets and health food stores are never raw. Look for hand-cracked cashews which are far superior in flavour and texture.

125 g/4 oz cashews, soaked 4-8 hours

60 g/2 oz dates

1 tbsp vanilla powder

2 tbsp olive oil

water

Pre-soak the cashews. Blend all the ingredients. Start off with half a cup of water (125 ml/4 fl oz) and then add a tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Half a cup makes a thick cream, one cup (250 ml/8 fl oz) for a runny pouring cream.

This is marvellous with any pudding, such as fruit salad (page 105) or Apple Crumble (page 114), or you can use it as icing for a cake.

Serves 8-12 // Takes 10 minutes, with 4-8 hours presoaking for cashews // You need a blender

TOFFEE SPREAD

This makes an incredibly thick, sticky spread, very intense in flavour and rammed with nutrients. Spread sparingly on crackers or Essene bread.

125 g/4 oz yacon syrup or raw honey

60 g/2 oz flaxseed, ground

1 tbsp cacao powder

1 tsp vanilla powder

Make sure you’ve got your ground flaxseeds ready. With a wooden spoon, combine the yacon syrup and flaxseed, then add the cacao and vanilla. Keeps indefinitely.

Makes 20 servings // Take 5 minutes
You need a grinder

CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Pour over chopped fruit, or have a raw fondue and dip slices of fruit into the carob sauce.

1 banana

2 tbsp cacao powder

1 tbsp agave syrup or raw honey

1 tbsp tahini

water

Break the banana into chunks and put all the ingredients in the blender. Blend until you get a smooth creamy sauce. Add water according to how thick you want the sauce: a little for a fruit dip, more for a fruit dressing.

If you don’t like chocolate, you can use carob powder instead. Carob powder is made from the pods of the fruit, not the seeds. If you are lucky enough to find carob pods they make wonderful snacks: you chew on the pod and spit out the seeds.

Makes 8 servings
Takes 5 minutes
You need a blender

CHOCOLATE SPREAD

This goes wonderfully on crackers and loaves.

2 bananas

60 g/2 oz almond butter

2 tbsp cacao powder

1 tbsp maca (optional)

Break down the bananas in the food processor until they are liquefied. Add the almond butter, then cacao powder, and maca if you’re using it, process to a thick paste. If it’s not sweet enough for your tastes, add a little agave or raw honey.

Cacao is chocolate powder that hasn’t been roasted. The caffeine in raw chocolate is thought to be inactive, so if you are sensitive to caffeine, like I am, you should be ok with raw chocolate.

Serves 8
Takes 10 minutes
You need a blender