Baking That's Not Baking

We did some baking recently.

Only I didn't turn the oven on.

In fact, I didn't do any cooking whatsoever!

Instead, we did "raw" baking, trying out some recipes that utilise the wonderful powers of a food processor.  Mine is pretty old - passed onto me by a family member (thank you!) when they upgraded...but it still did the job just fine, despite being rather noisy (note to self: be sure to warn preschooler first so he can leave the room next time you decide to turn roasted almonds into almond meal in the foodprocessor).

I am now hankering after an Omniblend.  It blends and purees and pulses and all kinds of lovely things, and at half the price of the other high quality blenders on the market.  All without it's blade wearing out, apparently.  I've completely worn out our blender blade after a year of Green Smoothies.  But we can't afford to replace it, so are just putting up with lumps in our smoothies.  One day, one day...but in the meantime, I can still make these delectable treats:

Raw Mayan Chocolate Fudge from Home-grown Kitchen.

If you like chocolate and orange, you will enjoy this!  Slightly sticky, very yummy.  No added sugar...which was okay even for me who usually likes my chocolate pretty sweet.  Grin.

Raw Lemon and Coconut Truffles  from Petite Kitchen.

Lovely and lemony.  Delicious!  They took a fair bit of blending, but were totally worth it!

And some Energy Balls from Nicola Galloway (of Homegrown Kitchen's) book, Cooking for Your Child.  

These are Munchkin's snacks at present, simply popped in the freezer between layers of baking paper.  They take hardly any time to defrost and are definitely a good energy-dense food.

Loved having something new to snack on.  Drawbacks?  They use more expensive ingredients - nuts (not great for friends with allergies!) and coconut oil (which is pricey) in particular.  Benefits?  Easy to make, taste amazing, gluten free, and a much healthier snack option than any other baking I can think of!

Amy

Ps - my thanks go to Elizabeth at To Find A Silver Lining for passing on these two fabulous blogs to me!