Last week we had a coffee morning at my son’s school and I was asked if I would like to turn up in my “professional” capacity, with cakes to sell. I have done a few cake sales now and I really enjoy them. Although it can be hard work and quite stressful in the run up to the sale, making and decorating everything pretty much at the last minute, they are really fun. It’s a real thrill to create something that other people consider worth buying. The main downside is that you never really know what you will sell. Last time I sold out of carrot cake so this time I made a larger one. And ended up with two thirds of it left over but at least I could freeze it for when friends or family come round! Same with the chocolate chip shortbread (which unfortunately doesn’t freeze so sadly we had to eat them) but I sold plenty of brownies and chocolate cupcakes and last time they were neglected…

The coffee morning turned into a mini fair and while I was selling cake another school mum friend was selling her handmade felt decorations: you’ll find her Facebook page, Lizzie Makes, here and if you like her things, felt decorations are a lot easier to send by post than cakes! We also had my friend Magda, who is a nutritionist and was essentially selling healthy eating and weight loss. Oh well, at least I can say carrot cake has vegetables in and I made sure to have a dairy and gluten-free cake option too… She had brought these raw almond balls for people to sample and they were so tasty I thought I should give them a go. You will find lots of interesting recipes and ideas for a healthier lifestyle on her Facebook page, Healthy for Longer. You will also find this recipe with the amounts given in cups: I have converted it below to grams and tablespoons. It makes a lot more than in the photo – between about twenty and thirty depending on how big you make them – but I had given some away before I had even finished making them as a friend came round for a cup of tea.

I must be getting better at healthy eating as not only did I have all the ingredients in my store cupboard, they weren’t even out of date. I had almond butter, and what’s more it was home made: you can find directions on how to make it here and if you don’t have almond butter (either store bought or home made) you could use peanut butter instead.

Recipe

Ingredients

70g gluten-free oats

30g cacao nibs

25g dessicated coconut, plus extra to roll the balls in

4 tablespoons ground flaxseeds

1 tablespoon chia seeds

115g almond butter

3 to 4 tablespoons honey (or agave syrup if vegan)

Half a teaspoon vanilla essence

Method

Put all your dry ingredients into a food processor. (I put mine into a bowl first because it made a better photo).

Oats, chia seeds, ground flaxseed, dessicated coconut, cacao nibs

Add the almond butter, honey and vanilla essence.

With almond butter, honey and vanilla essence

Process until the mixture starts to come together. You may need to add extra honey or process for longer if it does not become sticky enough.

Test the mixture by trying to press it into a ball: if has been processed sufficiently with enough honey it should do so quite easily.

Shape the mixture into little balls by pressing and squeezing the mixture together and rolling in your hands.

Put a small amount of dessicated coconut onto a board and roll the balls in it to coat them.

The recipe makes around 20-30, depending on how large you make them. These were the few that still remaining when I took the photo…

Categories: Baking, Dairy-Free Baking, gluten free baking, healthy baking, Recipes, Starters and snacks, Uncategorized, Using Alternatives, Vegan baking

Tags: almond butter, almonds, bake sales, baking, cacao nibs, chia seeds, chocolate, coconut, flaxseed, healthy snack, honey, no bake, oats, raw food, recipe, sugar free