December 21-22, 2009: Macadamia-Date Balls As Well As Vanilla-Vegan Bubble Slice

This twelvemonth my Christmas baking wasn't baking at all - I went the melt-mix-chill route. It has much to recommend it: it's quick too elementary too it doesn't larn y'all also hot too flustered amidst the warm atmospheric condition too full general Christmas chaos.

My kickoff priority was a gift for my step-grandfather, Max. He's been having around wellness problems inwards the final few months thence I wanted to plough over him something tasty too treat-like that wouldn't locomote overly bloating or calorific. The date macadamia balls that Jo posted on one-day foray into raw food proved the ability of dates' sweetness caramel flavour, too the creamy richness of solid pose down macadamias. The fleck of cocoa inwards this recipe solely enhanced the care for factor. If I made these in i lawsuit again merely for myself, I'd sacrifice the sweetness too upward the cocoa fifty-fifty further.

The 2d care for loitering fuzzily inwards the background is our quondam solid unit of measurement favourite, bubble slice. It's appeared hither in various guises before, too I'll dub this version the 'vanilla-vegan' one. Actually it doesn't comprise vanilla at all, but rather is the plainest, bare-bones version of the spell without whatsoever added nuts, dried fruit or chocolate. The master copy recipe uses dearest too butter, but I made the vegan- too pantry-friendly pick of substituting golden syrup too Nuttelex. In spite of these alterations the odour of the peanut-butter caramel mixture bubbling on the stove took me immediately dorsum to my mum's kitchen. It remains a crowd-pleaser, going downward as good amongst my country-living, meat-eating blood brother too the inner-city vegan friends who dropped past times for tofurkey sandwiches.

Macadamia-date balls
(based on this recipe from It Ain't Meat, Babe)

1 1/2 cups macadamias
1 loving cup fresh dates
two (or more) teaspoons cocoa
1 loving cup shredded coconut

Blend the macadamias to a pulverization inwards a nutrient processor. Add the dates too cocoa too function along to blend until the mixture forms a smoothen dough.

Form tablespoons of the dough into balls too curlicue them inwards coconut. Store them inwards the refrigerator until y'all desire to scoff them.

Vegan-vanilla bubble slice

v cups rice bubbles
1/2 loving cup dessicated coconut
125g Nuttelex/margarine
iv tablespoons golden syrup
iv tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 loving cup brownish sugar

In a large bowl, stir together the rice bubbles too coconut.

In a small-medium saucepan, melt the Nuttelex, golden syrup, peanut butter too sugar. Bring them to the boil, thence simmer for v minutes. Pour the caramel mixture over the dry out ingredients too combine thoroughly. Press the mixture into a minor baking tray, using the dorsum of a spoon to smoothen over the surface. Refrigerate until set, thence cutting into squares.