These balls provide a soft chewy texture experience, along with a delicate sweetness and tangy flavor. This simple and nutritious snack is made fully of whole, plant food ingredients, without any added sugars, oils, or other unhealthy ingredients. The final product provides you with a high-energy and high-protein snack that is great at home or on the go and makes a perfect treat for kids. The balls are rich in healthy and wholesome fats, protein, and carbohydrates, and include a wide array of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and fiber. They are naturally low in sodium and all of their calories are nutrient-dense. Being a raw treat, they also maintain their full nutritional integrity.

Characteristics

TYPE: Dessert, Snack
PREPARATION: < 5 mins
SERVING: Makes 24 - 30 balls

  • Whole food
  • 100% Plant-based (vegan)
  • Raw food
  • Organic
  • Wheat-free
  • Gluten-free
  • Peanut-free
  • Soy-free
  • Corn-free
  • Oil-free
  • Refined sugar-free
  • Isolated sugar-free

Goodies Needed

INGREDIENTS:

TOOLS:

Preparation Steps

  1. You can use dry raw cashews or soaked raw cashews. Do note that soaked cashews will make the balls softer and “wet”. If soaking your cashews, place them in a bowl of water for several hours, and rinse well before using.
  2. Add the hemp seeds, cashews, and apricots into your food processor.
  3. Prepare your lemon by washing it, grating some lemon zest, and then cutting it in half to remove the juice. Place the zest and juice into the food processor.
  4. Add the optional vanilla extract, and process the ingredients until a sticky mixture results. (Ingredients may even all clump together.)
  5. Form mixture into balls. If the mixture is too soft to work with comfortably, you can place it into the freezer for about half an hour or so, until it hardens a bit.
  6. Place some hemp seeds onto a plate and roll each ball evenly in the hemp seeds to provide an external coating.

  7. You can eat the balls immediately for an extra soft and chewy texture, or place them in the refrigerator or freezer to harden for a firmer texture.

  8. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for short term use (within a week), or in the freezer for long term use.

Health and Nutrition Benefits

Hemp Seeds

  • excellent source of healthy fats (35%) and protein (25%)
  • provide healthy carbohydrates and fiber
  • excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, including an optimal omega-3 to omega-6 ratio (1:3)
  • provide phytonutrients, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory benefits
  • provide vitamins, especially vitamin A and E, and some B vitamins
  • provide minerals, especially phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, and zinc
  • support optimal health, weight, healing, and prevention
  • support healthy blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels
  • protect against heart disease, cancers, diabetes type 2, and other chronic diseases
  • for more information, visit the hemp seed health benefits from Organic Facts

Cashews

  • provide healthy fats, protein, some carbohydrates, and fiber
  • provide phytonutrients, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory benefits
  • provide vitamins, especially vitamin K and some of the B vitamins
  • provide minerals, especially potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, and selenium
  • support optimal health, weight, healing, and prevention
  • support healthy blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels
  • protect against cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes type 2, and other diseases
  • for more information, visit the cashews detailed overview from World’s Healthiest Foods

Apricots

  • provide healthy carbohydrates, fiber, protein, and are virtually fat-free
  • provide lots of phytonutrients, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory benefits
  • provide vitamins, including vitamin A, C, E, K, and some B vitamins, including folate
  • provide minerals, including potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, and iron
  • support optimal health, weight, healing, and prevention
  • support healthy blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels
  • protect against cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and other diseases
  • for more info, see the apricot overview on World’s Healthiest Foods

Lemons

  • provide alkalizing, cleansing, detoxifying, anti-inflammatory, and anti-microbial benefits
  • provide lots of phytonutrients and antioxidants
  • provide some vitamins and minerals, most specifically vitamin C
  • support optimal health, weight, healing, and prevention
  • support healthy blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol levels, and liver function
  • protect against cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, infections, and other diseases
  • for more information, visit the lemon detailed overview from World’s Healthiest Foods

Vanilla

  • provides antioxidants and phytonutrients, like vanilloids, and has anti-inflammatory benefits
  • provides some B vitamins
  • provides some minerals, especially manganese, potassium, copper, and magnesium
  • supports healing, prevention, and overall health
  • supports cardiovascular and nervous system health
  • for more information, visit the vanilla overview from Nutrition-and-You.com Tips: Use the vanilla bean directly or choose pure, natural, and organic vanilla extracts. Avoid synthetic vanilla and similar artificial vanilla products.