Right in the middle of book writing my friend gave me the coolest gift, ever. (Note to anyone ever wanting to buy me a gift, don’t waste your money on anything else other than cookbooks and foodie treats. I’m easily pleased). The gift consisted of a bag full of Loving Earth goodies that her mum had bought for herself in the hopes that her super-sensitive system would cope with them, but alas it was not meant to be. For her anyway, for me it meant only good things. Come on, I’d never say no to free healthy treats now would I?!
The two bags and one little jar of goodness have sat in my fridge ever since, looking at me, waiting to be used. I’ve been using mesquite powder for a long time now, ever since Heidi sent some over from the states, but maqui and gubinge powder are totally new to me. A little reading later and it turns out maqui is considered one of the highest antioxidant fruits on the planet. I’m trying not to sound too superficial here but to be completely honest, it was that amazing purple hue that in intrigued me the most! Don’t judge me. It’s such a stunning colour and I’m already imagining how beautiful it would look in a simple butter-cream icing… natures natural food colouring! The powder has a slightly sour taste so I decided to further enhance that with a touch of lime. The coconut and cashew nuts round off these lovely, healthy little sweet treats perfectly. We ate these straight from the freezer, and just a warning if your house is like ours… they won’t last long.
Other healthy sweet treats you might like to have a squiz at…
– Carob tofu bliss balls
– Chocolate hazelnut slice
– Chewy carob bites
– Rich chocolate slice
– Little raw carrot cakes with orange maple cream
cashews
desiccated or shredded coconut
coconut oil, melted if solid
maple syrup
zest and juice 1 medium lime
fine sea salt
Place cashews,
coconut and maqui into a small food processor and grind to a fine meal.
Transfer to a bowl and mix in remaining ingredients. Shape into balls or use a
tablespoon measure to shape into domes. Place onto a tray and freeze for 15-20
minutes or until set. Store in a lidded container in the freezer and enjoy
frozen.
Note: This is not a sponsored post. As mentioned, a friend gave me the goods and I am only too happy to promote a company such as Loving Earth, who’s products and ethos I love.
22 Responses
Hi Emma, these look delicious! I wonder if you can give me some advice. I'm coming across heaps of great recipes (many on your blog!) that have coconut oil in them and I'm on a diet where I need to avoid saturated fats as much as possible. I know coconut oil is a 'good' saturated fat, with lots of other benefits, but I still need to avoid it. Can you suggest alternatives? with much respect, Jenny
Hi Jenny, hrrmmm you got me there. I use coconut oil for it's setting properties as well as for it's nutritional benefits. I would say use butter or ghee instead, but they would also be out for you. For this particular recipe, because the bites are frozen I reckon you might be able to get away with using just a little bit of liquid, maybe orange juice or almond milk to make it moist enough to shape (maybe even a little stewed + pureed apple/pear?). If it's not holding together enough to freeze in little domes, I'd press the mixture into ice-cube trays before freezing. Let me know if you try this and it works xx
Hi Emma, I've used apple sauce instead of the coconut oil. They're holding together. I suspect they're a little crumblier when you eat them but that doesn't matter. They are really yummy! The coconut and lime flavors are delicious. thanks for the recipe! Jenny
Oh AWESOME Jenny! Thanks for letting me know it worked with apple sauce 🙂 xx
I'd be attracted to that purple hue too even if it didn't have all those properties!
Ah good, so it't not just me then eh? 🙂
Ohhhh I don't blame you for being attracted to that gorgeous purple! Do you know where you could get these products?
Depends on what country you live in… here in Australia and back home in NZ Loving Earth (link above in the post) sells it, online or through one of their many stockists. I buy their products from my local healthfood store. If you live out of Aus/NZ maybe do a google search to see if any other companies sell it? Failing that, use one of my suggestions in the headnote in place of Maqui.
I'm a sucker for that purple too and I'm really intrigued by what these little bites might taste like too. Definitely going on the hunt for some maqui powder!
PS the pics in this post are totally stunning Emma! xx
Thanks Kathryn! xx
I'm having trouble imaginging the flavour but the colour is beautiful!
The Maqui itself doesn't have an overly strong flavour, slightly sweet and tart, but you get lots of the coconut/cashew/lime flavours coming through in these bites xx
It's a great flavor. Something different. I actually like it better than acai. These really do look great. Think I might give them a go. Great post.
Good to know, this is truely something diffrent, i want try that in the future.
Oooh purple- my favourite flavour!
Wow these are gorgeous! I would love to try 🙂
Well, now I know what maqui is! 🙂
I ADORE the colour. It's so pretty!
Isn't blogging an amazing experience? I NEVER would have known what maqui is had I not popped around the blogsphere and found your little spot in cyberspace! These little chilly treats look so interesting!
Thank you, thank you! I'm always looking for healthy purple foods, for my 5yo fairy princess … 😉 Yum!
Oh, I just love this magenta colour. And the recipe seems very simple. The hardest thing will be to find this magical powder.
Greetings
They really are so pretty! I've never heard of those powders, I'll have to look them up and see if they're available near me 🙂
SO DELICIOUS! I just made these, and without shame, licked the bowl. They've got the perfect amount of zing (from the lime) and taste of the tropics (from the coconut). The perfect little after dinner sweet treat. Thank you for creating such a great/simple recipe.