Monday, August 30, 2010

Great Balls of Fire

As recommended by my lovely hubby, I've tried a new Kelsey ball recipe!

I started with a double batch of ingredients, just like last time. I discovered during the process that I didn't have enough dry roasted peanuts, so this batch had two parts peanuts and one part dry roasted almonds. It seemed to work just fine, and you can detect a hint of almond. Very good sub! I also added 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt to the nuts as they were processed, since I bought unsalted nuts and the last batch was missing that little bit of salty goodness.

original with coconut and chocolate


Instead of making one large batch of the version I made last time (which coconut and dark chocolate), I split the batch in half. One half with last weeks mix; the other half were spicy!

I left out the coconut for the Great Balls of Fire batch (deemed so by Hairdresser Bridesmaid in the comments last week) and added 1/4 cup of raw rolled oats. I ground the oats, just like everything else. It was added to the dates, nuts, and chocolate along with 3/8 teaspoon of cayenne powder for kick! I started with a 1/4 teaspoon and decided I wanted them just a tad hotter. If you don't like things spicy, go with 1/8 teaspoon and add until you're happy with the heat level. In this household, we like things that are supposed to be hot to actually be fairly warm. These have a lovely warm spice that is barely detectable at first then blossoms by the end of the ball. I love them! Plus, the addition of the oatmeal brings back memories of my mom's no-bake oatmeal cookies from my childhood, and that was one of my FAVORITE things.

Great Balls of Fire


A little tip....I have a larger processor, so once everything was ground to the right consistency on it's own, I added all the ingredients back into the bowl of my processor and pulsed in very short bursts. It combined everything beautifully! Those dates are hard to "mix" otherwise. This took the elbow grease portion out of the process. And hey, the processor bowl was already dirty anyhow. Might as well use it!

So, I hope you don't mind getting the same recipe two weeks in a row, but this variation rocked my mouth. Try it! You won't regret it.

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