Los Bombones de Marly

Marly's Bonbons!

This post is sort of a follow-up post to my 'Sugar Addiction & Scary Things' post. Some of you may have read my thoughts on sugar and excess carbohydrates in reference to body chemistry. Although the hefty length of that post might have discouraged quite a few of you;). Either way, I've been avoiding all cane and beet sugars (refined or not) along with things like A.P. flour, white rice, white bread, & the like.

I must say that it was hard at first. Not only in the realm of addiction and cravings either. Though I had plenty of that-no doubt. It was also hard as someone who blogs though. I mean, baking was and is such a large part of my culinary life. And it's hard to no longer be able to strut over to the kitchen and bake up something wonderful with my existing culinary knowledge that makes baking so very easy to do when sugar and A.P. flour are on the scene.

All of sudden, I've had to actually think about what I'm going to bake and how!? And this involves a lot of research, experimenting, failures, happy surprises and the like. It also involves me having to come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to have a picture of some lovely yellow cake smothered in rich milk chocolate on FoodGawker. Well, I might. If my experimenting goes as planned...

Till then, I made Ms. Marly's lovely, no-bake date bonbons! They are so easy & delicious. Plus, I don't have to feel bad about eating them. Well, not unless I eat a whole lot them!

Marly's Bonbons

2 Cups of Dates (Deglet Nour)

2 Cups of Raw Nuts*

1/4 Cup of Organic Cocoa**

2 Tbsp. Coconut Flakes

1/4 Tsp. Orange Blossom Water + some for hands

Sesame seeds, desiccated coconut, crushed pistachio/almond, cocoa for rolling

*I used raw cashew pieces.

**Green & Blacks Organic Cocoa is excellent!

Place dates and nuts in a food processor and process until quite smooth-this took me about 1 full minute to do, though it may take more or less time depending on the processor. Once pretty smooth, add the orange blossom water, coconut flakes, and cocoa. Process for another 30-45 seconds or until smooth.

Once your mixture looks smooth or at least to your desired consistency, pour a touch of orange blossom water onto your clean hands (the water helps with rolling while perfuming the bonbons). Take about 1-1/2 Tbsp. of date mix and roll between your palms till you have a nice ball. Roll the ball in coconut or desired coating. Repeat this process till done.

Note: You do not have to continually put orange blossom water on your hands-just when they feel too sticky to roll a smooth ball.

Enjoy!

Note: Marly does not use orange blossom water in her recipe. If you do not have any, do not let this discourage you from making these wonderful, healthy treats!