Since today's a Sunday, I thought it'd be the best day to share this recipe because who doesn't love baking (and by baking I mean eating) on a Sunday?! When TSB bank* got in touch and challenged me to go on a week long spending ban to encourage better spending habits and fit in with their 'being sensible with money' ethic, I thought 'challenge... accepted'. Then I sat long and hard and thought about what I wanted to choose. I really wanted to do it to test my willpower, plus I really need to start learning to save better because I'm terrible, but I knew that if I chose clothes or shoes I'd fail. That's a shameful admission right there, but I had a night out on the Friday and, ahem, nothing to wear. What else did I spend my money on? And then it hit me, BOUNCE BALLS. I buy them like they're going out of fashion - I can't physically walk past a Boots or Holland & Barratt without nipping in to buy one, or five. However, at £2/£2.50 a pop they're not that purse-friendly, so I made a conscious decision on the Monday to put myself on a Bounce Ball Ban (now there's a tongue-twister for you) and make my own from scratch. Obviously mine had to be gluten free (gawd, do I have to mention my allergy every time?! I know) and they're also vegan too, so really everyone should be happy campers! I took inspiration from this recipe by the Naturalista - one of my favourite food bloggers - and gave it a few tweaks here and there to make the little balls of goodness below. And I know that they're good because I kept catching Rob in the fridge 'just looking for something' with little oaty crumbs around his mouth.
So, you're going to need:
So, you're going to need:
125g gluten free oats
12.5g puffed rice
60g hemp protein (if you don't need gluten free then normal protein is fine)
130g peanut butter
1tsp maca
1tsp wheatgrass
3tbsp dessicated coconut
1tsp maca
1tsp wheatgrass
3tbsp dessicated coconut
1tsp vanilla paste
6tbsp maple syrup
Pinch sea salt
Pinch sea salt
Sesame seeds for sprinkling
So, first up - throw your oats, rice, hemp, maca, wheatgrass, coconut and salt together and mix. Our bloody blender broke the day before I made these - because that's just the way things go in my life - so the texture of mine is slightly off from mixing them by hand. They still tasted as delicious but just, well, don't look quite as together as they should.
Once you've mixed these you can start to stir in your cashew butter, vanilla, maple syrup. If you want to be a little naughty then you can add in some chocolate chips at this point. In some sort of magical turn of events I managed to stay strong against chocolate temptation.
Sprinkle some sesame seeds on a plate. Once your mix starts to resemble a cookie dough texture, shape your mixture into balls (prepare for those hands to get mucky) and then roll them carefully across the plate of sesame seeds until they're covered in a thin coating. You should have enough mix to make 13-15 balls depending on what size you'd like them.
and hey presto - there we have it! They're not the prettiest or most Instagrammable snack (poor things) but they're so unbelievably tasty and, obviously, healthy. We're inching ever closer to summer which means the dreaded swimwear run where you go to buy a bikini for your holiday, hate the way you look in all of them and then run home and weep into a family sized bag of crisps whilst telling yourself it'll be fine, you can just wear a head to toe scuba suit for two weeks. Basically what I'm saying is that these are tasty enough that you'll be able to say no to that Dairy Milk bar, but healthy enough that you can have 'just one more' and not feel guilty. Plus, the maca and hemp protein will give you that much needed energy boost you need to get your ass through a gym session). I worked out that I saved myself around £25 that week without buying bounce balls for myself or Rob, or £100 if I manage to go a month... which I can now use towards some beautiful swimwear. Or shoes. NO wait.. that definitely defeats the purpose of going on a spending ban. Damnit. Saving it is! Have any of you lot ever gone on a spending ban, and if so with WHAT? I'm finding the rush quite addictive.
*post contains sponsored link
