Chocolate cranberry bliss balls with toasted sesame

Bliss balls is what I make when I crave something sweet but don’t want to make a whole cake. I use whatever dried fruits/berries (such as organic apricots, blueberries or mulberries) or fresh dates I have at home. Instead of oil I prefer to get my fat from tahini or any kind of nut butter as I like to use the WHOLE food, plus it’s adds LOTS of awesome flavour. Cacao is every so often in my bliss balls, and maybe some additional flavour such as cinnamon, blueberry powder or like here - cranberry powder! Then it’s the rolling left - coconut, toasted sesame seeds or nuts or berry powder all works perfectly!

These ones are my new favourites because A) they contain tahini which I love B) they are tangy thanks to cranberry powder and C) lightly crisp on the outside thanks to the toasted sesame seeds!

Hope you like them too! And please let me know your favourite bliss ball combinations!

Chocolate cranberry bliss balls with toasted sesame

Makes about 16

Ingredients

3 dl / 1.2 cups rolled oats

12 fresh dates, pitted

3/4 dl / 0.3 cups cacao, preferably raw

2 tsp cranberry powder

2 Tbsp light tahini

2-3 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp cacao nibs (optional)

a good pinch of flakey salt

For rolling

1 dl / 0.4 cups unhulled sesame seeds

How to

Mix the oats, cacao, cranberry powder and salt in a food processor. Add the dates and mix until crumbly. Add tahini and water to combine. Add a bit more water if necessary. Now you might want to add your cacao nibs. The batter should be a bit sticky as the oats will soak up the liquid when you let it sit for a moment.

Pre heat the oven to 175°C / 350°F. Spread out the sesame seeds on an oven tray and toast the seeds for 10 minutes. Let cool.

Form the batter in to about 16 balls. Roll in the sesame seeds. Store in the fridge or freezer - I like them best well chilled, pretty much straight from the freezer!

Carrot cake porridge with lingonberries, apple and tahini

Carrot cake porridge with apple, lingonberries and tahini

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 dl / 0.8 cups steel cut oats

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

5 dl water

1 dl / 0.4 cups unsweetened oat mylk

1/2 dl / 0.2 cups soaked * buckwheat (optional but gives the porridge even more delicious texture)

1 carrot, finely grated

salt to taste

Topping

Frozen lingonberries

1 apple

cacao nibs

pepitas **

lingonberry powder

edible flower sprinkle

light tahini

flakey salt

How to

Bring oats, spices, water and almond mylk to a boil. Let simmer for a couple of minutes while stirring, until you get a creamy and delicious porridge. Rinse the buckwheat. Add the soaked buckwheat and carrot, let simmer 30 seconds. Salt to taste.

Divide in to two wide bowls. Topp with lingonberries, apple, cacao nibs, pepitas. Powder with lingonberry powder. Sprinkle the flowers and drizzle with tahini!!

* How to soak buckwheat: Put dried whole buckwheat in water and 1 tsp apple cider vinegar for every 2 1/2 dl water over night. Rinse thoroughly in the morning. You can store the soaked buckwheat in the fridge for several days and add in your morning porridge or lunch salad. Rinse before use.

** Pepitas are similar to pumpkin seeds but comes form hull-less pumpkin varieties whereas pumpkin seeds comes with a hull. However - the green seeds seen on the porridge above are sometimes referred to as pumpkin seeds too! Note that in Swedish we’d call them “pumpafrön”.

Apple cake bliss balls with cacao nibs

Delicious small bites of - my take on - a soft and sweet Swedish apple cake! Inspired by my dear friends at Food Pharmacy I made these ones the other day when I wanted something sweet for fika (Swedish word for a time of day when you sit down/chill out/have a snack + cup of tea or coffee or some other drink maybe). And I am very happy with the result - natural sweet, nutty and nutritious ingredients flavoured with two of my favourite spices; cinnamon and cardamom cannot go wrong. So it wasn't much of a gamble to be honest.

Unlike most bliss balls these ones are soft - and almost kind of chewy. As the cashews are soaked before mixing the bliss ball batter, they are easier to digest (+ nutrients even more accessible)+ adds an extra creaminess to the balls. Now let's bake!

Apple cake bliss balls with cacao nibs

Makes about 20 bliss balls

Ingredients

2 dl cashew nuts, soaked for 1-2 hours in 5 dl water I 1 tsp unfiltered apple cider vinegar

2 dl steel cut oats

1 red apple, roughly grated

6 fresh dates, pitted

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cardamom

2 tbsp cacao nibs (optional)

grated coconut for rolling

How to 

Drain and rinse the cashews. Mix with the rest of the ingredients, except for the cacao nibs, until a soft and smooth batter. Add the cacao nibs and pulse a few times. Form in to 20 balls, and roll in grated coconut.

Store in the fridge or freezer. 

Soft raspberry ice cream with whipped coconut cream and hazelnuts

A quick dessert, or why not a weekend breakfast och brunch. That's one of many clever things about nourishing food, you can have them at anytime from breakfast to dessert! Avocado is the secret ingredient which makes this quick ice cream irresistibly soft and creamy. Try substitute raspberries for blueberries, blackberries or a mix of you favourite berries!

And oh, if you can't find hazelnuts without skin in your grocery you can scroll down to find my tips on how to remove skin from hazelnuts (as it has the tendency to give a bitter taste we want to remove it). Plus tips on how to best deseed a pomegranate - knowledge you cannot live without!

Now, who wants soft ice cream in 15 minutes?!

Soft raspberry ice cream with whipped coconut cream and hazelnuts

Serves 4

15 minutes

Ingredients

3 ripe avokados

500 g frozen raspberries

1 tsp pure vanilla powder

4 fresh dates, pitted (use more for a sweeter taste)

Topping

1 1/2 dl / 0.6 US cups coconut cream

1 dl / 0.4 US cups pomegranate seeds

1/2 dl / 0.4 US cups toasted hazelnuts, skin removed 

2 tbsp cacao nibs

Fresh lemon balm

How to

Whip the coconut cream until fluffy. If you find it hard to get it fluffy you can let it sit in the fridge for about 30 minute, as that will make it more firm and easier to whip.

Thaw the raspberries for 5 minutes. Mix with the rest of the ingredients for the ice cream using a immersion blender, food processor och preferably high speed blender until SUPER smooth. Add more dates for a sweeter touch.

Divide in to 4 small (or 2 big if you're on that mood) bowls and top with coconut cream, hazelnuts, pomegranate seeds, cacao nibs and last but not least fresh lemon balm. Eat straight away!!

Toast and peel hazelnuts

Pre heat the oven to 175 degrees celsius. Put the hazelnuts on a baking tray and toast for about 10 minutes, until the skin starts to crackle. Let cool. Put in a clean kitchen towel and rub to remove the skin.

Deseed a pomegranate

Cut of the top crown and the bottom of the fruit. Now carefully cut the fruit from the top to the bottom, along the inner gentle ridges/fruit membrane which you are suposed to see once the top and bottom are removed. Normally you'll get about 6 cuts. Open the pomegranate, so that you get separate sections. Now you can easily deseed the pomegranate, using your fingers, preferably over a bowl. Remove any membranes that might come with the seeds.

This is a recipe that I created for Swedish vegan food magasin VEGO some time ago! Photo and recipe by me.

Green smoothie bowl with matcha chia pudding - and all the toppings you could ask for!

I'm a huge matcha fan. I love it in smoothies, as traditional tea, as coating on my chocolate bliss balls and - as pictured above - in my chia pudding! The combination of matcha and coconut is a really great match - especially with a naturally sweet green smoothie!  

Green smoothie bowl with matcha chia pudding

- and all the toppings you could ask for! 

2 portions

Green smoothie

1 big, or two small, green banana/s (peeled, sliced and frozen)

1 fennel bulb

1 avokado, peeled and pitted

1 kiwi (buy organic and keep the peel!)

2 handfuls of baby spinach

water

freshly squeezed lemon juice

Matcha chia pudding

1/2 creamy coconut milk

1 1/2 dl water

1 tsp organic matcha powder

1/2 tsp pure vanilla powder

2 1/2 tbsp chia seeds 

Topping suggestions

Fresh fruits or berries (I used kiwi and mango)

fresh herbs (for example mint, lemon balm or Thai basil)

puffed quinoa

cacao nibs

hemp seeds

shredded coconut

coconut yoghurt

How to

Start with the chia pudding: Bring water and coconut milk to a boil. Pour in to a jar and whisk together with matcha powder, pure vanilla powder, a pinch of Himalayan salt and chia seeds. Wait 10 minutes and then whisk again to prevent clumping. Cover and put in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.*

Mix together the ingredients for the smoothie in a high speed blender until completely smooth. Use water, a little at a time, to get your desired consistency. Add lemon juice to taste. 

Divide the chia pudding and smoothie evenly in two bowls. Top with your favourites! 

* If putting your chia pudding in fridge over night you don't need to heat up the liquid first - that's just a way to make the chia seeds soak quicker.