Are you looking for a healthy snack or a light lunchbox dessert? Energy balls are all the rage right now; and they’re perfect for a snack to keep children (or adults!) going until the next meal.
Many of the popular recipes are crammed full of nuts which aren’t always welcome in schools - so check out this simple nut free option.
Skills Check
Follow a recipe; follow food safety & hygiene rules; tidy away; use measuring spoons; use weighing scales; use a blender/food processor (with adult supervision).
Allergens
Sulphites | May contain gluten | May contain milk
(please note the allergens listed are indicative only. Allergens vary depending on brand; check the labels on the products you use)
Equipment
Blender, weighing scales, measuring spoons, chopping board, large bowl.
Ingredients (makes 10):
- 70g pumpkin seeds
- 20g puffed rice/wheat
- 80g dates (stoneless)
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 heaped tsp of cocoa powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp runny honey
- 1 tbsp orange juice
Method
- Blend half of the pumpkin seeds in a blender to dust like consistency and put aside.
- Put the remainder of the pumpkin seeds in the blender, with the puffed rice and dates, and blend.
- Add the remaining ingredients and blend until sticky.
- With wet hands take small amounts of the mixture and mould into 10 balls.
- Roll the balls in the ground pumpkin seeds.
- Place in a suitable container and leave to set in the fridge.
These will keep for around 2 weeks if stored appropriately in the fridge.
So thinking about nut free energy balls ...
Dates are a type of fruit. With around 60 per cent of their weight coming from sugar they are one of the sweetest and stickiest fruits around! They are a good source of iron and B vitamins and are high in fibre.
Pumpkin Seeds are a fabulous source of protein and iron. They are also high in unsaturated vegetable oils and an excellent source of vitamin E and zinc - wow!! Oh and they also provide fibre!
Nutritional Information
| - | Energy | 268kJ / 64kcal | 3% |
| Med | Fat | 3.4g | 5% |
| Med | Saturates | 0.6g | 3% |
| Med | Sugars | 3.1g | 3% |
| Low | Salt | 0.1g | <1% |
per 20g serving
% of an adult's reference intake
Typical values per 100g: Energy 1340kJ / 321kcal
Notes
A traffic light system is used on nutrition labels to make it easier to see which foods and drinks are lower in calories, fat, sugar and salt. Try and choose more ‘greens’ and ‘ambers’ and fewer ‘reds’, and stick to smaller portions of ‘reds’.
Just because a recipe or a food has a red traffic light doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat it. Understanding why a food or recipe might have a red light can be helpful. For example oily fish is high in total fat and so any recipe containing oily fish is likely to be ‘red’ for fat. But it is recommended that we eat oily fish at least once a week because the type of fat it contains is beneficial for our health.
% Reference Intakes are also shown. Reference Intakes are guidelines about the approximate amount of particular nutrients and energy required for a healthy diet (based on an average-sized woman doing an average amount of physical activity). Most children will require less than these Reference Intakes. The contribution of one serving of a food or drink to the Reference Intake for each nutrient is expressed as a percentage.
