Energy balls are all the rage these days and can be found on display in many coffee shops, as a tempting addition to your morning Joe. But what if you want to enjoy an energy ball with your morning coffee at home? What a dilemma! Well, the good news is that they are very simple to make. These ones made with an orange zest are particularly delicious. I prefer them to many of the ones in the coffee houses, but maybe I’m biased.

These can be made in about 15 minutes and all you need is a reasonably strong blender, a grater and six ingredients. I tried these with the additional attachments that came with a new hand blender and they turned out perfect. Once the blender is powerful enough to blitz the dates and almonds, you should be good.

We all enjoy a sweet treat from time to time. We’re only human. Its healthier if we can satisfy our sweet tooth without too much refined sugar and syrups, processed fats and additives. These orange zest energy balls are made without any refined sugar, using dates for sweetness with just a touch of maple syrup. Almonds and coconut are both whole foods, with nuts in particular being associated with many positive health outcomes. The squeezed orange juice and zest provide a lovely orange flavour.

If you are not familiar with zest, it is the grated outer skin of the orange. I use a zester, but if you don’t have a zester you can also use a fine grater.

This mixture makes around 12 energy balls, depending on how big you make them, and how much of the mixture gets eaten in the production process. You can keep them in the fridge and have your coffee breaks sorted for the week. Tip: Hide these on your children, other family members, house mates and anyone who has access to your fridge, or they won’t last too long.

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Orange Energy Balls

Orange energy balls made with dates, almonds and orange zest. Perfect to indulge a sweet tooth. 

Prep Time15 mins

Servings: 12 energy balls

Author: SimonDeaneHealth

Ingredients

• 100 grams of almonds
• 100 grams of pitted dates
• 75 grams of desiccated coconut
• 1 tablespoon of peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon of maple syrup
• the juice from half an orange
• the zest of half an orange

Instructions

• Put the dates (ensure they are pitted) into a blender and pulse until well chopped
• Set the dates aside and add the remaining ingredients to the blender (only adding about half of the desiccated coconut)
• Pulse until the almonds are ground
• Add the dates back to the rest of the ingredients and pulse until everything is mixed together
• Sprinkle the remaining desiccated coconut onto a plate
• Roll some mixture from the blender into a little ball and roll in the coconut in order to coat them 
• Repeat until all of the mixture is used up
• Enjoy