I am very excited to share these with you. Possibly my favourite raw recipe yet (or maybe one of my favourites in general, actually…) These are mini Christmas puddings that taste JUST like the real thing but are made from nothing but raw, healthy and natural ingredients. Yep, right down to the decorations on top!
I’m eating one right now as I type this which is probably making me sound extra enthusiastic about them… But they are just so flavourful, so Christmassy, so moreish and so cute!
The Christmas pudding filling itself is extremely quick and easy to make. You could be eating one in 5 minutes and enjoying a taste of pure Christmas along with the smug knowledge that what you’re eating is super healthy too!
You simply process the ingredients, roll into a ball and “Tada!”
But if you want to make them really look like cute little Christmas puddings, it’s a slight bit more effort (but not too much, I promise.) Of course, they’re just as delicious without the decorations and make a great snack too.
Christmas Pudding Bites
Ingredients
For the Christmas pudding energy bites
- 80 g ground almonds
- 100 g pitted dates
- 130 g dried apricots
- Zest of half an orange and half a lemon
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground mixed spice
- 1 tsp raw vanilla powder or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste, not raw
For the chocolate coating
- 50 g cacao butter
- 3 tbsp cacao powder
- 2 tbsp raw sweetener
- Tiny pinch of sea salt
- Half a batch of my "white chocolate coating" (click here)
For the marzipan decoration
- 150 g raw whole almonds, soaked in water for at least 4 hours
- 1 - 2 tbsp raw agave nectar
- 1 tsp spirulina powder, for green colouring
- 1 tsp beet juice or powder, for red colouring
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients for the energy bites in a food processor and grind until the mixture starts to clump together. It should be stodgy and easy to roll into a ball.
- Take about 1 tbsp of the mixture and roll into a ball. The mixture should make about 12.
- To make the dark chocolate coating, melt the cacao butter over a very low heat using a double boiler or heat proof bowl over a simmering saucepan. Once the cacao butter has melted, whisk in the cacao powder, sweetener and salt. Leave to cool down to room temperature.
- Make the "white chocolate coating" by following my instructions here, halving the ingredients.
- Once the dark chocolate has cooled, use a fork or skewer to dip the energy balls into the chocolate and make sure it is fully coated. Let all the excess chocolate drip off into the bowl and then transfer to a sheet of tin foil or greaseproof paper. Leave in the freezer or fridge to set.
- After about 20 minutes, it should be fully set. Add a small amount of the white chocolate coating to the top of the chocolates and let it slightly drip down the sides to create the classic custard look. Leave in the freezer to set again.
- Meanwhile, make the raw marzipan. After the almonds have been soaking, their skins should be very easy to remove. And once all the skins have been removed, add the almonds to a food processor. Grind until they resemble breadcrumbs.
- Add the sweetener then process again until the mixture begins to clump together and is completely smooth.
- You now have raw marzipan! To add the colourings, simply mix in the colour powders separately. Create pea sized balls with the red marzipan for the berry and small leaf shapes with the green marzipan for the holly.
- Add the marzipan decorations to the top of the christmas puddings and press down to let it adhere to the top.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12Amount Per Serving: Calories: 85 Carbohydrates: 11g Fiber: 2g Protein: 2g
For the record, I spent about 15 minutes trying to make proper holly leaf shapes out of the marzipan but it was just too fiddly for me. I need a miniature holly leaf cutter… Do those exist?
But despite my struggles with the holly shapes, the marzipan is actually surprisingly easy to work with and the potential of things you could make with it is huge!
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