Fruity Chocolate Truffles for Junelle - and they are gluten, egg, and dairy free

Little Miss has had a great term of swimming with Junelle at Aquagym. We always make a little home-made baked gift for her swim teachers at the end of each term. In this case there wasn't much baking involved; one of my gluten free colleagues gave me this recipe a while ago. At the time our kitchen whizz had just blown up, so the recipe got filed. Time poor as usual, and scratching my head about what to make, these were the perfect, quick and tasty treat for a Saturday morning.

I have adapted the original recipe to use different fruits and seeds, and you too can substitute whatever you happen to have in the pantry. The original recipe used walnuts and coconut instead of pumpkin seeds and chia. The combination of natural fruit and energy rich seeds makes them a perfect brain food snack.

Fruity Chocolate Truffles

1 cup pitted dates
1 cup sultanas
1/4 cup dried apricots
a handful of goji berries
1/4 cup preserved ginger - choose the ones without the sugar coating, or just rinse the sugar off.
1/4 cup dried mango - chopped into smaller pieces
1 cup pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons dark cocoa
1 tablespoon sunflower or canola oil

1/4 cup chia seeds for coating the truffles

First toast the pumpkin seeds in a hot pan. 

Keep them moving around the pan or they will quickly burn. tip into a bowl and set aside to cool.

Once the pumpkin seeds are cool, place all the ingredients except the chia into the food processor. 

Be sure to choose fruit that is not too dried out, or the truffles wont hold together.









Process the mixture until it forms sticky chunks. Don't over process or all the texture will be lost. 

Roll the truffles into even sized balls, then toss them in the chia seeds. 

Leave to sit for a little while so they set. And your done! A tasty snack in no time.

Little Miss just loves Junelle, and so she was very happy to give her this little gift to show our appreciation for all her good teaching.

Goji Berry Bran Muffins

Nothing could sound more healthy than Goji Berry Bran Muffins. These are an accidental creation. The result of the best laid plans going slightly astray. A couple of weeks ago, seduced by the health claims, I bought a packet of dried Goji Berries. Lets just say, these are not the tastiest snack I've ever had; and since then they have been languishing untouched in the pantry. Last week one of my esteemed colleagues made the most delicious Bran and Cranberry Muffins for morning tea. Keen to get something in the cake tin after a busy weekend, I had an epiphany. Hoping that the whole might be greater than the sum of its parts, I combined the two. I was all set to make them, had the bran and the yoghurt, but then left the recipe at work. Not wanting to risk a disaster by guessing the ingredient quantities, I consulted a couple of recipe books, got the basic ingredient ratios and devised my own.

Goji Berry Bran Muffins

2 cups baking bran
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried goji berries - soaked in hot water until soft
3 tablespoons golden syrup
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 cup plain unsweetened yoghurt

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C.
Combine the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl combine the golden syrup, oil and eggs.
Gently stir the golden syrup mix, drained goji berries, yoghurt and dry ingredients together until just combined.

Bake in greased muffin tins for approximately 12 minutes. They should be golden in colour and bounce back when pressed.

The recipe made enough for 12 medium sized muffins and 10 mini muffins.

As you can see, two of the muffins have already been whisked away. Little Miss 3 insisted she have a 'special princess muffin' before bed. 

 

The berries add a nice touch of sharpness to the muffin, and the yoghurt makes them nice and soft. Overall the mixture isn't overly sweet; making these a perfect anytime snack.