‘Bliss Balls’, ‘Power Balls’, ‘Paleo Balls’, ‘Raw Balls’.  If you’ve been living under a rock, or perhaps not trawling instagram each night in an attempt to ensure you don’t sleep, these incr-‘edibly’ trendy spheres may have escaped your notice.  Let me explain.  These ‘it’ balls are made up of various concoctions of seeds, nuts, protein powder, dates, nut butter, coconut oil etc etc.  Type bliss ball into your search engine and you will be inundated with recipes.  Go to any trendy cafe and I can guarantee there will be some on offer.

The truth is this new trend is not new at all.  Simply a modern twist on a formula that has been working well for yonks.  Nana’s books are chock full of variations on this theme.  Rum Balls, Gingernut Bites, Apricot Balls, Coconut Balls, Apricot-Coconut Balls…we could be here a while (I will be trying them all out I promise!). No they are probably not as healthy as the newer versions, but most include dates and coconut that are so common in the modern recipes.  It seems Nana was unknowingly ahead of her time with these ‘super’ foods.  These were something quick and easy then, and guess what, they still are.  Which bring me to today’s Date Coconut Balls.

You will need:
– 1 and a half cups chopped dates
– 1 cup desiccated coconut
– 1 cup crushed biscuit crumbs (I used our old faithful Marie biscuits)
– 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

Do this:
– Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and blend well, adding a little orange juice if the mixture is too stiff. (I just mixed mine with a spoon, so the dates were chunky, but I’m sure you could blend them all)
– Shape into small balls and roll in coconut.
– Place in the fridge until set.

That’s it! They look and taste a treat!