Come on…that title has to make you smile a little. It makes me laugh!
This time of year, I get a serious craving for candied orange peel. Even just plain orange peel. Sometimes, I just take a bite out of an orange peel like it’s an apple (organic, of course!). It’s one of the reasons I am in the severe minority of people who like fruit cake. But also classic Panettone (which you can now get gluten-free from Eataly. It’s pretty good!) It’s almost impossible to find organic candied orange peel, so I’ve created a recipe that fills my craving and is super easy and even healthier.
In Australia, they have an abundance of varieties of energy balls available in every coffee shop. You pop one in your mouth, and it’s a nutritious burst of flavors. I was determined for years to figure out how to make them. Finally, I succumbed and bought the most important tool, which is a mini food processor. For those of you who don’t know, once upon a time, I was a food blogger at Maria’s Farm Country Kitchen, which I have since abandoned (although you can still find all my recipes on it!). But I did make a cookbook out of all the recipes and reader feedback called Scratch, Home Cooking For Everyone Made Simple, Fun, and Totally Delicious. All the ingredients are easily found, and the recipes rarely rely on gadgets. So it was a big step for me to buy that little machine. But I’m so glad I did. This recipe is infinite in its possible variations, which is what I like in a recipe — flexibility, personality, and ease. There is no added sugar or gluten, either.
The base consists of 1/3 Medjool dates (pits removed. I made that mistake once although the pits are not poisonous, thankfully). 1/3 nuts, your choice! And 1/3 dried fruit. Here is the recipe for Fruitcake Nutballs:
6 Medjool dates, pits removed
1/3 cup nut of choice (mine was pecans)
1/3 cup dried fruit (mine was sultana raisins and a few candied cherries)
About a third of the raw skin of an organic orange, chopped up slightly
A dash of vanilla
Put this all in the food processor and chop until it’s in small bits. Remove and roll into bite-sized balls. Fruitcake Nutballs! This recipe makes about 16 balls. If they are too dry, add more fruit. If they are too wet, add more nuts.
Now, full disclosure, they are a bit fugly. But you can roll them in coconut, cocoa powder, matcha, or whatever you prefer to make them look more like a classic truffle. I kept them naked for this post so you could see what they really look like underneath whatever covering you feel the need to put on them. But Naked Fruitcake Nutballs sounds even better, right?
Great nuts are: cashews, walnuts, almonds, peanuts, pecans, pistachios.
Great dried fruits are: cherries, apricots, raisins, cranberries, mango, pineapple.
Great extra additions are: orange or lemon rinds, chocolate, and spices.
Have fun and get creative! And keep on laughing.
We call them “girl balls”- especially when I put dried shisandra berries among other fruits and nutty things. But they sure can be fugly!
But THANKS to you I will now add the orange peels from my Hardy Oranges (Poncirus trifoliata) that we grow. Because we get a bountiful crop I always submerge some sliced oranges in honey for a few months. I use this flavored honey for the cup of “tea” that I enjoy with the balls.
They look great. Unsure about the orange peel though. I will try it