Apricot Nut Balls

[Thermomixer]

Name of Recipe: Apricot Nut Balls

Number of People: Makes about 20.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dried apricots
1/4 cup sultanas
1/3 cup honey
1 Tbsp water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup full cream milk powder
2 tablespoons coconut
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/2 cup coconut, extra

Preparation:

Place apricots, sultanas, honey, water and lemon juice in TM bowl.  Cook for about 15 minutes at 100°C on speed 1 without Measuring Cup in place until mixture is thick and liquid absorbed.  Allow to cool.

See notes from Zan below
Add almonds, milk powder, coconut and sesame seeds (and mix through with spatula).  Mix for 20 seconds on speed 3 or until well blended.  Remove into a bowl.
Shape rounded teaspoons of mixture into balls with dampened hands. Roll balls in extra coconut. Refrigerate until firm, store in an airtight container.

Photos:

Tips/Hints:

These will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1 week, this recipe is not suitable to microwave or freeze.

Origin:

Aust Womens' Weekly "Food To Go"

[Zan]

Attempted these APRICOT NUT BALLS for the girls snacks for this week.
Had to really tweak, I'd left it all to cool then added and mixed as said, but nothing was blended and the dry stuff just sat on top, lol. Not sure if it was too cool.
So I blended up on speed 6 for a bit then added a little water and cooked for another 5 mins. Worked well.
So in future I would try blending all the ingredients then cooking.
Also I used oats instead of almonds as didn't see they were meant to be chopped till after I'd started, but how I ended up doing it would have been fine putting them in whole as they'd chop up when I blended it all.


Will try again though as they like them and see how they go.

[zebraa]

What do you think you could substitute for the dried milk?

So it is preschool friendly I am going to do 50% oats (thanks Zan ) and 50% sunflour seeds instead of the almonds and see how that works.

[Thermomixer]

Thanks Zan.  I remember making these as a request for somebody looking for kids treats.  I probably used the spatula to mix things together before blending, but like your idea of cookiing together.

[cathy79]

What do you think you could substitute for the dried milk?

So it is preschool friendly I am going to do 50% oats (thanks Zan ) and 50% sunflour seeds instead of the almonds and see how that works.

I used desiccated coconut in similar apricot balls instead of dried milk - that worked well.

And pumpkins seeds also make a good substitute for almonds - I often use 50% sunflower, 50% pumpkin seeds instead of almonds.

[Thermomixer]

Good to see you back 

[Zan]

I'd just go with the basic amounts;

3/4 cup dried fruit (apricots, sultanas, dates etc, but to be apricot balls, predominately apricots, lol)
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp water
1 3/4 cup of dried ingredients - coconut, almond meal, cashews etc if using nuts,  sesame, pumpkin seeds, milk powder, oats, etc

I find when making these types of snacks that the amount of dry ingredients needs to be adjusted each time anyway to get the right consistency.

I'd then blend it all up on speed 6 for say 30 seconds, then cook it for 5 minutes at 100 ° speed 1.

[Thermomixer]

Ta 

[Zan]

Oh and then tip it out into a bowl and wait for it to cool a bit or you'll burn your hands, lol.
I didn't want it to cool too much so that the honey hadn't totally solidified and make it hard to ball so I mixed it with the spatula a few times and made a couple of balls from the cooler stuff at the top.

[zebraa]

Brilliant, thanks.

[sue_h]

I made similar ones today but without the seeds and lemon juice adapted from the WWeekly Baby/Toddler  good food book . I turbo chop the dried fruit and then soaked it in some hot water (add water, mix  , 4 minutes and then let it sit another 6 minutes) before adding the dry ingredients. I'd like to try the non-milk version next time. Not sure if they'll be as creamy but a healthier alternative. I only had shredded coconut so ground it before hand to make dessicated. I'm going to use these as party bag fillers for my DS9 party.

[cathy79]

I only had shredded coconut so ground it before hand to make dessicated.

I do the same thing - no need to have different types!