Power balls with nuts and sesame

Tahini, sesame paste, as we can tell from its name, is produced from sesame seeds. I like to add it to dishes because it gives ordinary meals a unique flavour. In the colder months it is worth buying a jar of tahini, because it is a healthy fat that contains calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron.

Tahini is a source of protein, vitamins and amino acids, which adds strength and energy. It also helps the liver and the nervous system as well as the digestive system. Ideal for Middle Eastern cuisine (hummus, halva or bars), you can use it as an addition to grilled vegetables and meat, and as a bread spread.

Today we have a new version of power balls.

Preparation

Optional, to coat: a lio shake of your choice or coconut sugar.

Soak the dates for about 15 minutes. Place the following ingredients in the food processor: dates (blend at slow speed), then add the nuts and blend again, and finally add the other ingredients. Check whether the mass is starting to stick, then gently pour in the hot water and stir until it becomes even stickier. Form the balls and place them in the freezer for about 1 hour. Tip: it is best to store the balls in the refrigerator.

The order in the processor is deliberate

Dates first, on slow speed, and only then the nuts. Run everything at once and the machine works against itself: the dates need a slow blade to break into paste rather than climbing the sides of the bowl, and the nuts need a fast one to break down at all.

Slow speed on the dates also keeps them from heating up. Friction warms a food processor quickly, and warm date paste turns greasy rather than sticky, which is the opposite of what holds these together. If the machine starts to labour, stop and scrape the sides down rather than pushing the speed up.

The hot water is the binder

This recipe is unusual among power balls in finishing with 80 to 90 ml of hot water, and it is not there to thin the mass. Coconut flour absorbs several times its weight in liquid and swells as it does, so the water is what turns a crumbly mixture into something that holds a shape.

Pour it in gradually, as the instruction says, and stop as soon as a squeezed handful stays together. Too much at once and the mass goes from crumbly straight to sticky paste, and the only fix is more coconut flour, which changes the taste of the batch. Hot rather than cold matters too: it loosens the tahini and the coconut oil so they coat everything instead of sitting in lumps.

Choosing and stirring the tahini

There is over 100 g of tahini here, which makes it the loudest flavour in the recipe rather than a background one. Light tahini from hulled sesame is mild and slightly sweet; wholegrain tahini is darker and noticeably bitter, and in this quantity that bitterness carries right through the finished balls.

Whichever you use, stir the jar properly first. Tahini separates in storage, with the oil rising to the top and a dense paste settling below, and a spoonful from the top behaves completely differently from a spoonful from the bottom. Stir it back together to an even consistency before measuring.

Freezer first, fridge afterwards

The hour in the freezer is not the same as chilling in the fridge. This mixture is soft with 60 ml of coconut oil and over 100 g of tahini, and the freezer sets the fat hard and fast so the balls hold their shape from the start.

After that hour they move to the fridge, which is what the tip at the end of the recipe means. Left in the freezer they go rock hard and need time out before you can eat them, while in the fridge they stay firm and ready. They keep about two weeks that way.

Cranberries, coating and how many you get

The cranberries go in with the last of the ingredients rather than at the start, so they stay in recognisable pieces. Blended from the beginning they colour the whole mass pink and their sharpness disappears into the background.

Roll the balls in coconut sugar or a lio shake straight after shaping, while the surface is still slightly tacky, since nothing sticks once they have been in the freezer. The quantities make around fifteen balls, which is a large batch for one person and the reason they freeze well before coating. If you would rather have snacks like these planned into the week along with your training, that is what the Diet & Training by Ann app does.

Anna Lewandowska

Tahini power balls with nuts and seeds

No-bake power balls of sunflower and pumpkin seeds, walnuts and Medjool dates bound with tahini, coconut oil, coconut flour and hot water, set in the freezer.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

Servings: 15 balls

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Polish

Calories: 190

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 60 g sunflower seeds
• 60 g pumpkin seeds
• 50 g walnuts
• 60 ml coconut oil
• 100-110 g tahini
• 60 g coconut flour
• 10 Medjool dates
• handful of cranberries
• pinch of sea salt
• 80-90 ml hot water

Method

 

1. Soak the dates for about 15 minutes.
   
2. Blend the dates in a food processor at slow speed until they form a paste.
   
3. Add the walnuts and the seeds and blend again at higher speed.
   
4. Add the coconut oil, tahini, coconut flour, cranberries and salt, and blend until the mass starts to stick.
   
5. Pour in the hot water gradually, stirring, until a squeezed handful holds together.
   
6. Form the balls, coat them in coconut sugar or a lio shake while the surface is still tacky, and place them in the freezer for about 1 hour.
   
7. Store the balls in the refrigerator afterwards.
   

Notes

Ingredient quantities are taken from the post as published; 60 g of pumpkin seeds restored from the Polish original, where the English version had only 'pumpkin'. Calories are an estimate.

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