Fruit Cake Bliss Balls
Completely contrary to their name, these bliss balls feature no cake at all! Rather quintessential Christmas cake flavour without the flour, butter, eggs, dairy, prep or baking! Put together in a matter of minutes, these bliss balls present the perfect option as a last minutes stand in for the cake that you "never quite got around to" baking.
Essentially, just a mixture of fruits, nuts and spices. these bliss balls are also a healthier alternative to the more traditional baked variety. While not entirely refined sugar free, they could be by swapping out the ginger and glace cherries for other fruit, for example, dried sour cherries. I have rolled the bliss balls in roasted almonds with a touch of (entirely optional) almond essence as a subtle nod to marzipan icing.
As you will see here, I simply kneaded the ingredients together. You want the fruit to have some distinction to be "Christmas cake like", so, don't pull out your food processor please! Do make sure your ingredient are at room temperature though!
Happy mixing!
Place your dates, almond meal, spices, orange zest and salt into a medium bowl.
Finely chop all of the remaining dried fruits. Add to the bowl, and knead ingredients until well enough combined that they hold together, but not so much that there is no distinction between some of the fruits.
Divide mixture into 12 even pieces, and roll neatly into balls.
In a separate bowl, combine the very finely chopped almonds with the almond extract, Roll the balls in the crushed nuts.
Store in the fridge. Best enjoyed chilled.
Ingredients
Directions
Place your dates, almond meal, spices, orange zest and salt into a medium bowl.
Finely chop all of the remaining dried fruits. Add to the bowl, and knead ingredients until well enough combined that they hold together, but not so much that there is no distinction between some of the fruits.
Divide mixture into 12 even pieces, and roll neatly into balls.
In a separate bowl, combine the very finely chopped almonds with the almond extract, Roll the balls in the crushed nuts.
Store in the fridge. Best enjoyed chilled.
