2 Superfood-packed Power Ball Recipes To Make You Glow

At TRAIN for HER we love power balls  – they’re the perfect on-the-go, energy-boosting snack and are excellent before hitting the gym.

Australian-born Kate Bradley is a plant-based cook, food stylist and freelance recipe developer who has devoted an entire book – Bliss Bites – to the creation of an exotic range of energy balls, bombs and bars.

Crammed with superfoods and super tasty ingredients the balls are easy to make and can be stored for a long time, so they’re the perfect plan-ahead morsel.

We’ve chosen just two of our tried-and-tested favorite power balls from Kate’s book:

Get Ya Glow On Bliss Balls

These power balls will add brightness to any dull day. Not only do they look like balls of sunshine, but they are also packed with spices and seeds to help make you shine from the inside out!

The bee pollen can be left out, or substituted with desiccated (shredded) coconut for rolling.

Makes 30

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

60 g (2 oz/½ cup) sunflower seeds

70 g (2½ oz/½ cup) pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

40 g (1½ oz/½ cup) white chia seeds

65 g (2¼ oz/2⁄3 cup) pecan nuts

30 g (1 oz/¼ cup) hemp seeds

2½ tablespoons bee pollen (optional)

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon maca powder

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

10 Medjool dates (about 200 g/7 oz), pitted

70 g (2½ oz) dried figs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

90 g (3 oz/¼ cup) raw honey or rice malt syrup

Bee pollen or desiccated coconut, for rolling

Method

Step 1: Place the sunflower seeds, pepitas and chia seeds in your food processor or blender and pulse them together until a fine meal forms.

Step 2: Add the pecans and pulse just a few times or until they are broken up but still have plenty of texture (see note).

Step 3: Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add the hemp seeds, bee pollen (if using), cinnamon, turmeric, maca powder and ginger.

Step 4: In the clean food processor or blender, place the dates, figs, vanilla and honey then process until everything is smooth.

Step 5: Add the date mixture to the bowl with the dry ingredients and use a wooden spoon to mix them together well. You may need to get your hands in there and really mush the ingredients together if mixing with a spoon is not doing the trick. (Just make sure you wash your hands first!) Add a tablespoon of water if the mixture seems too dry.

Step 6: Take about a tablespoon of the mixture at a time and roll it into 2.5 cm (1 in) balls. Roll the balls in the bee pollen or desiccated coconut to lightly coat then place them in an airtight container and refrigerate or freeze them.

Note

These will keep for up to 2 weeks in the fridge, and a couple of months in the freezer.

If you want a softer truffle, pulse the ingredients until everything is a fine meal.

– RELATED: How To Eat Well Even When You’re On The Move –

Carrot Cake Bliss Balls

Kate loves carrot cake, and clearly she loves power balls. Combine these two concepts and you get carrot cake bliss balls. Enough said.

Makes 12

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

150 g (5½ oz/1½ cups) walnut halves

10 Medjool dates (about 200g/17 oz), pitted

1 large carrot, grated

1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Pinch sea salt flakes

50 g (1¾ oz) LSA (linseed, sunflower seed and almond mix) or ground almonds finely grated zest of 1 lemon (optional)

70 g (2½ oz/1 cup) shredded coconut

Method

Step 1: Place all the ingredients, except the desiccated coconut, into your food processor or blender and process them until combined.

Step 2: Take about a tablespoon of the mixture at a time and roll it into 2.5 cm (1 in) balls then roll the balls in the desiccated coconut to coat.

Step 3: Place the balls in an airtight container, then refrigerate or freeze them.

Note

These will keep for up to 2 weeks in the fridge, and a couple of months in the freezer.

If you want some walnut chunks in here (which are so good), add an additional 30 g (1 oz/¼ cup) or so of crushed walnuts, after processing the mixture. Knock back the grated ginger to ½ teaspoon if you want a milder gingery-ness.

Bliss Bites by Kate Bradley, published by Hardie Grant Books, is out now. £8.99 www.waterstones.com | $10.88 www.barnesandnoble.com. Photography © Elisa Watson

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