Yoga Kitchen – Simple, healthy, and plant-based
Quick, healthy and tasty: speculaas nut balls
Choosing to eat more plant-based foods is one of the most powerful actions you can take as an individual to reduce your carbon footprint.
A healthy treat that provides a good amount of healthy fats and plant-based proteins! That’s this simple recipe, which you can whip up in no time. It has the typical flavour of speculaas or speculoos, in English speaking countries otherwise known as Biscoff. Texturewise, the result is somewhat similar to marzipan, but in a much healthier version. Because traditional marzipan is a real sugar bomb, made from ground almonds and (usually) refined white sugar, typically in a fifty-fifty ratio, depending on the quality.
This version is completely free from added sugar.
If you don’t have exactly the same nuts as described below, you can use any other nuts instead. The proportions given aren’t set in stone either. Instead of speculaas spices, you could use other spices. Experiment and enjoy!
What you need for about twenty balls:
- 70 g walnuts
- 50 g Brazil nuts
- 30 g oat flakes
- around 6 soft dates, pitted, chopped, soaked
- A pinch of sea salt or herbal salt
- half to one teaspoon of speculaas spices, to taste
Method
- Soak the walnuts in water for a few hours to remove the bitter taste, then rinse and pat dry.
- Remove the stones from the dates and chop them into pieces.
- Place all the ingredients in a food processor fitted with an S-shaped blade.
- Chop the mixture finely until you notice the crumbs becoming sticky and clumping together.
- Divide the mixture into 4 equal portions and roll each portion into 5 balls between your fingers.
It’s that easy.
A few more tips:
- Dates are generally sold dried. In that case, soak them in water for about three hours. Make sure the dates are just barely covered. You can use the syrupy soaking water afterwards as a sweetener for another recipe.
- Like most nuts, it’s best to soak the walnuts in advance by placing them in a small bowl of water the night before or a few hours before you start. Drain off the brown, bitter soaking liquid and rinse briefly under the tap.
- Brazil nuts do not need to be soaked beforehand.
- These balls keep easily for 10 to 14 days in the fridge in a sealed container
Enjoy!
Dates as a healthy sweetener
Dates offer us a relatively inexpensive way to sweeten dishes. Most dates found in shops are dried dates from North Africa or Turkey of the Deglet Nour variety. In North African shops, they are often sold ‘on the branch’, i.e. still attached to the branches of the date palm. These dates are quite tough and dry and are best soaked in water beforehand. Dates of the Medjoul variety are thicker and juicier, though also considerably more expensive. Soaking is often not necessary.
And finally, in organic shops you can sometimes also find the delicious, almost fresh Mazafati dates from Iran. Soaking is not necessary here either.
In any case, avoid those high-gloss dates from the supermarkets! Because they are coated in a layer of glucose syrup and are therefore sweetened. Glucose syrup is an ultra-fast form of sugar that really has no place in a healthy kitchen.
Nuts: an underrated source of protein
Nuts are among the plant-based foods with the highest levels of plant protein. Just like pulses, they currently account for only a small proportion of the average Westerner’s total protein intake. All the more reason, then, to reduce our consumption of animal protein and, above all, to start eating more pulses and nuts.
Nuts are best bought in bulk from organic shops. The small, pre-packaged portions in traditional supermarkets are often disproportionately expensive.
Speculaas nut balls, per 100 g of product
The values are approximate.
| Energy | Carbohydrates | Sugars | Fat | Sat. Fat | Protein | Fibre | Salt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2065 kJ/494 kcal | 42,33 g | 26,29 g | 35,12 g | 5,25 g | 9,58 g | 6,88 g | 0,12 g |
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