These lovely luxurious bite-sized balls of salted tahini caramel are so satisfying after a meal. They are covered in a simple sweet maple glaze with equal amounts of maple syrup and coconut oil. When the cold balls get dipped into the glaze it instantly hardens creating magic!
VIOLAS in the garden, add them to salads, desserts, or fruit. They happily self-sow and despite their delicate appearance, violas are fairly robust. Sow early spring, then again in late summer, to ensure violas throughout the winter.
salted tahini caramel balls
Inspired by this recipe.
Makes 15 small balls
dough ingredients
⅔ cup/60g dried shredded coconut
⅔ cup/130g Medjool dates (approx 7 dates)
⅓ cup/80g tahini
⅛ tsp fine rock salt
⅓ cup/50g TOASTED pistachio or almonds
glaze ingredients
2 Tbsp/30g coconut oil
2 Tbsp/35g maple syrup
½ tsp vanilla extract
preparation
1. Make the dough: place the coconut, dates, tahini, and salt in a food processor or high-speed blender for 1 minute, scraping down the sides halfway through. Add the toasted nuts and blitz 3 – 4 times until well incorporated. If the dough is still too crumbly to form into balls, depending on the quality of your tahini, add 1 tablespoon of water.
2. Roll into balls, approximately 20g each; you should have 15 balls. Place in the freezer for 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, make the glaze: melt the coconut oil on low heat, turn off the heat, and then whisk in the syrup and vanilla. It will combine into a thin caramel consistency. Set aside for 30 minutes.
4. Once the balls are frozen, take them out of the freezer. The balls must be icy to help the glaze harden. Place a toothpick in each ball and dip into the glaze; place on a cardboard box until the glaze hardens. Whisk the glaze each time before dipping the balls. Once set, re-dip them until the glaze is used up. Towards the end, you may need to place the glazed balls back in the freezer for 15 minutes and heat the glaze slightly again, then continue re-dipping.
5. The balls can be kept in the fridge for 10 days or up to 1 month in the freezer.
