No Bake Recipes – Fruit and Nut Balls

The whole premise of no bake recipes relies on the idea that simple can be delicious and, for all intents and purposes, hassle free. It is true. Although there is always some effort involved with cooking, there are a lot of tasty morsels that can be whipped up without the oven or stove. One example, Jingle Balls. These sweet holiday treats are put together with no heat whatsoever. Another example, perhaps slightly more healthy, but just as tasty, are fruit and nut balls. Ahh…fruit and nut balls. These gems are a great use of dried fruit and the varieties are endless.

The internal stickiness of dried fruit is what makes these possible. Dried apricots, dates and even raisins have good binding ability without any addition. They merely need to be pulsed up in a food processor or finely chopped with a knife to expose that sticky interior. With the sticky dried fruit chosen, it is a matter of picking a mixin’ like at those ice cream places where they pound ingredients into a scoop of ice cream before your very eyes. A fruit and nut ball is really no more than a reconstruction of trail mix. Anything from chocolate to seeds can be chopped into the sticky web of dried fruit. It is really a matter of taste. Nuts are obvious because the roasted notes go well with dried fruits.  You can see the real breadth of different flavors possible by using all the different nuts or even mixed nuts – a southern themed fruit and nut ball with pecan, a Hawaiin themed fruit and nut ball with pineapple and macadamia, a classic with raisins and peanut. Keeping it simple with just fruit and nuts is one way to go, but herbs and even spices could also be added to the mix. It depends on the fruit, but dates and almonds and chocolate go well together as do apricot, white chocolate and coconut. Think threesome! It will not only get your mind wandering, but there are a lot of great flavor trios to be had in a fruit and nut ball.

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Once shaped into a ball, a coating of some sort is a good way to go because even with tasty mixins’, the nut and fruit balls don’t lose all their stickiness. In truth, a coating is a great way to add extra flavor or even decoration. Fruit and nut balls take well to coconut or cocoa powder, but a roll is something simple like sprinkles will do a great job, too. Even a roll in crushed up candy cane or other hard candy has lots of potential.

Here are my no bake recipes for fruit and nut balls!

No Bake Recipes – Apricot, Cashew and Coconut

Keep Eating! Keep Innovating!

Do you have any no bake recipes for fruit and nut balls to share? Let us know all about it in the comments or on Facebook.

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