Choc orange balls

Well since I'm too scared to eat chocolate now (not that we ate a lot of it anyway obviously since starting the Melcra lifestyle), I have to look at other ways to get that chocolate in my diet (because, you know, its obviously needed as part of a well balanced diet!)

So I was thinking about the lemon balls I usually make, based on this recipe (I roll into balls instead of cutting into bars on my friend Sammie's suggestion).  Then I started thinking.. hmm.. what if I used orange instead of lemon.  Both citrus so should work right?

So then I started thinking... well shit, if I had orange, what goes well with orange - CHOCOLATE!!!!

So then I looked at this other recipe that I normally make for little chocolate type balls, and thought, well hell, I'll create my own!

So this is what I did -

1 cup of almonds
1.5 cups of dates
30g cacao
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
zest of an orange (I used a new one I got the other day, washed it, dried it, then cut off with a peeler)
2.5 tablespoons of orange juice
1 cup of shredded coconut

So I let the thermomix do its job - and this is the end result!!

Some I rolled plain, some I rolled in coconut - obviously!  I'm definitely no cook, or make my own inventions kinda gal, hell I had to google how to pan fry our fish tonight!  But these are pretty damn good!  I think the best thing is - there is no sweeteners or anything added to it, so totally paleo if we ever want to return to that kind of eating style (which we sort of follow anyway except for the odd sandwich here and there!)

The plain ones are a bit sticky, but I think I can live with that.........