I know they are not the prettiest thing I’ve ever made but these balls are so good. They were a bit of an experiment and I wasn’t sure if they were going to have that “raw” green tea taste that some green tea flavoured things seem to have. But I managed to restrain myself when adding the matcha powder enough that the flavour while pronouncing itself definitely as green tea, is still subtle enough to not blow your head off!
Ingredients – makes about 20
- 100g raw cacao butter
- 100g ground blanched almonds (whole blanched almonds if using thermomix method)
- 1 teaspoon matcha (green tea) powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla powder
- 30g coconut sugar
Method – Traditional
- Melt raw cacao gently over a double boiler in a medium sized bowl. You need to be careful to melt on the lowest possible heat if you want to retain the “raw” integrity of the cacao butter.
- Remove from double boiler and add all the other ingredients to the melted cacao butter
- Allow to semi harden (put in the fridge for 20 minutes if it’s warm in your kitchen)
- Roll teaspoon of the mix into balls and allow to set in the fridge.
Method – Thermomix
- Grind blanched almonds 8 sec/speed 8
- Remove to a bowl as best you can (no need to wash bowl)
- Chop raw cacao into chunks about 2 cm square
- Add to bowl and melt 5 min/50 degrees/speed 2 – It may need longer
- Add all remaining ingredients to bowl including ground almonds and mix 5 sec/ speed 4
- Scrape the mixture into the used almond bowl
- Allow to semi harden (put in the fridge for 20 minutes if it’s warm in your kitchen)
- Roll teaspoon fulls into balls and allow to set in the fridge.
About some of the ingredients
Green Tea has wonderful antioxidant properties and really you’ve got to ask yourself what it’s not good for – heart health, skin health, allowing you to be calm but caffeinated, weight loss, brain function and heavy metal detoxification. It’s been associated with a reduction in LDL cholesterol, reduction in blood pressure and stroke. Knock yourself out!
Raw Cacao Butter is a highly saturated (read, very stable and “good for you”) fat. It smells divine and you can even use it on your skin as moisturiser if you don’t want to make things to eat with it. (although why you wouldn’t want to eat things you make with this gorgeous stuff is way beyond me!). Its what gives these little balls their amazing texture – just like a matcha flavoured chocolate.
Coconut Sugar is my favourite sweetener and becoming more readily available as more people realise it’s advantages. It acts much like cane sugar in baking however the rate at which it causes your blood sugar to rise is much lower than cane sugar. Coconut sugar comes in at a very low 35 on the Glycemic Index, while cane sugar comes in at 68 – The Glycemic Index or GI is the scale that measures blood sugar spikes of carbohydrates. Coconut sugar also contains plenty of valuable minerals so there is a point to using this product – unlike processed cane sugar which really has no redeeming features at all other than that it tastes sweet.
Vanilla Powder is becoming more easy to obtain and is vanilla pods and seeds ground up. It has a very intense vanilla flavour as you would expect and is great to use in chocolate for texture and to avoid adding extra liquid. Real vanilla contains anti-inflammatory compounds and can help with brain function.
Hope you love these. Let me know in the comments below.
Ros