lavender vanilla dream balls

i dreamt about these, woke up and wrote down the recipe, then went back to sleep. hence the "dream" part of the title. all my dream recipes are so much better than reality ones.

these were a big hit. my family loved them and so did my friends. i really tried to do something sans chocolate, but hey - can you blame me? i'm sorry i dipped these delicious, healthy treats in dark chocolate.

sue me.

you can leave out the chocolate, but - no surprise - i recommend adding it. chocolate and lavender seem to like each other, and who am i to deny them a great relationship?

for some reason the coconut oil in these did not want to be part of the party. i only put in about 2 tablespoons but it wouldn't combine with the other ingredients! you can see it soaking into the cutting board... hopefully this won't happen for you. start with 1 tablespoon and see what it does.

after rolling out all the balls with my friend, we had coconut oil dripping from our hands - literally! so i just rubbed it all over my body. yum! i love when the food i eat is also the stuff i put on my skin to keep it glowing and healthy. like avocados, bananas, oats, papaya, lemon, mango, etc.

vanilla lavender balls: makes around 25?

1/2 cup coconut chunks

1 cup walnuts

1 cup cashews

3/4 cup dates

1-2 tb melted coconut oil

1-2 tb agave/maple syrup (optional)

1/2 t salt

1/2 t cinnamon

1/8 t ginger powder

seeds from 1 vanilla pod

2 t vanilla extract

1 t dried lavender

2-3 tb hemp seeds

in food processor, process coconut chunks and nuts until they're crumb sized. add dates and pulse until it clumps together. add all other ingredients and process until it forms into a ball.

roll this into balls and then dip in raw chocolate, or melted dark chocolate. stick 'em in the fridge for maybe 10-15 minutes and then gobble them up.

like balls?

I must come up with a new name for these... but I can't think of anything catchy. Hemp spheres? Globes? If they were covered in coconut, I could just call them snowballs. Ah well, I'll think of something. For now, it's fun to see peoples' reactions when I offer them big ole chocolate hemp balls. They're really good though! And not too sweet.

My friend was going to Nanaimo for the weekend to visit her mysterious, grammar-obsessed lover; and she asked me if I could help her make something gluten free to give their family.
Since I couldn't use my sprouted flours or any of my more expensive ingredients since I was giving it away (yes... I am cheap), I took advantage of the sprouted buckwheat I had.

We used that for the base and added cocoa, hemp seeds, agave, cashews, peanuts, flax seeds, coconut oil and vanilla. Processed it all together and rolled 'em into balls. Then covered them in hemp seeds to make them pretty. The jury's out on whether or not the Nanaimo-ians liked them... but I think they're tasty. Perfect for a pre-workout snack, or just sustained raw energy in your busy day =)

raw energy hemp balls: makes 18 or so, I like big balls (sorry, couldn't resist)

1 1/2 cups sprouted buckwheat

1/2 cup cashews/peanuts

3 Tb maple syrup

1/3 cup raisins/dates

1 t vanilla extract

1 Tb coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup ground flax seeds & hemp seeds

3-4 Tb cocoa/cacoa 

Process buckwheat into rough flour, add all other ingredients and blend until you've a got a chocolatey dough. Add what else you want. Roll the dough into balls and roll those in hemp seeds until they're covered. Chill for 1 hour if they're not hard enough, or have them at room temperature. Enjoy!