People tend to reach for something sweet when they feel tired. Vegetable cooking specialist Izumi Shoji recommends bliss balls, which promise soothing, natural sweetness, for those moments.
Mix random dry fruits and nuts, blend them in a food processor and roll the mixture into bite-size balls, and you have your bliss balls. Since no sugar or additives are used, bliss balls are growing more and more popular as guilt-free sweets in recent years.
"They are also called energy balls because the sugar in the fruits is an instant source of energy," Shoji said.
She showed how to make three different types of bliss balls. Each recipe makes six to seven balls.
The first one is made of almonds as well as pitted and dried prunes.
"You can either keep the almond's crunchy texture or pulverize them," Shoji said, adding nuts should be crushed first as it is difficult to blend uncrushed nuts and dry fruits together.
All the bliss balls have a natural sweetness that melt inside your mouth and lifts your spirit. They are also nutritious. Each bite brings you more energy.
-- Almond and prune bliss balls
Ingredients:
50 grams almonds
50 grams prunes (pitted)
Directions:
1. Crush almonds in a food processor.
2. Add prunes to the crushed or powdered almonds and blend them together, until the mixture thickens.
3. Put the mixture in a bowl and roll into bite-size balls. Adding a little bit of water or oil to the mixture will help if you are having trouble rolling it into balls.
4. Sprinkle the balls with green matcha powder and white coconut flakes, or ground coconut albumen, to add some colors.
The next bliss balls resemble chocolate truffles, which are made of cashew nuts and dried figs with coconut oil and cocoa powder.
-- Bliss balls a la chocolate truffle
Ingredients:
50 grams cashew nuts
50 grams dried figs
1/2 tbsp cacao powder
1 tbsp coconut oil
Directions:
1. Crush cashew nuts in a food processor.
2. Add all the other ingredients and blend them all.
3. Put the mixture in a bowl and roll into bite-size balls.
4. Sprinkle cocoa powder on the balls to make them really look like chocolate.
For the third type, walnuts, dried dates and slightly rosy cranberries are mixed. These bliss balls look cute, with a pale-pink part visible here and there.
-- Bliss balls with walnuts, dried dates and cranberries
Ingredients:
50 grams walnuts
50 grams dried dates (pitted)
10 grams dried cranberries
Directions:
1. Crush walnuts in a food processor.
2. Add dates and process together.
3. Add cranberries to the mixture and lightly crumble them.
4. Put the mixture in a bowl and roll it into bite-size balls.
To make your bliss balls colorful, sprinkle each ball with a ¼ to 1/2 tablespoons of matcha powder, coconut flakes or dried and powdered vegetables, such as purple sweet potatoes and pumpkin.
If you have leftover dried fruits after making the bliss balls, you can use them to make a salad dressing, according to Shoji.
Finely chop 20 grams of dried fruits and 30 grams of onion. Add a little over one tablespoon of vinegar, a little less than one tablespoon of olive oil and a half tablespoon of soy sauce. Blend them in a food processor, and it's done.
"It goes well with any vegetable and adds a subtle sweetness to them," Shoji said.
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