My 4 year old loves the little mini fruit balls you can buy from the fruit and vegetable section of the supermarket. Pity they cost and arm and a leg to buy and are filled with all sorts of nasties. Now we don’t have the most perfect diet in the world but if I can avoid some of the additives and save a tonne of money I’m happy. I make Apricot Balls all the time which or mostly a hit so thought Id experiment a little.

The beauty of these is its only a few ingredients and it makes a lot. If you try them and your child doesn’t like them try adding a little dried apple to the mix. I find that it sometimes helps with the flavour for younger kiddies as some dried fruits can be quite strong in flavour.

I have used a tiny bit of honey to sweetened some of them as they were a little tart in my testing round. I have also added dates for some extra sweetness and honey. I have just used pitted dates but you can use medjool dates if preferred. These can be quite sweet so if using this I would hold off on the honey. Make the batch and taste test a little. If you want it sweeter than add a little honey.

You can use any dried fruit for these. These are just the fruits I had available and knew the kiddies would eat (well I took a gamble with the cranberries. turns out they aren’t a fan!). Use a variety to get a rainbow affect. Dried blueberries, semi dried banana, paw paw, mango, peaches are all ones that would work well.

In terms of cost I worked out that these cost me just shy of $5.00 for just over 350g of balls with purchasing the ingredients at the supermarket. Bulk buying places would be much cheaper.

These are a great snack to have in the fridge for afternoon tea or to include in the lunchbox. More lunchbox ideas can be found by clicking here.

Below is both the thermo way and traditional way to make these.

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TMX Mini Fruit Balls


  • Author: The road to loving my Thermo Mixer
  • Total Time: 20

Description

The thermomade version.


Ingredients

Scale

Cranberry

  • 60g dried cranberries
  • 2 pitted dates
  • 10g desiccated coconut
  • 1 teaspoon honey

Apple

  • 60g dried apple chunks, see note
  • 2 pitted dates
  • 10g desiccated coconut

Strawberry

  • 60g dried strawberries
  • 2 pitted dates
  • 10g desiccated coconut
  • 1 teaspoon honey

Pineapple

  • 60g dried pineapple chunks
  • 10g desiccated coconut

Apricot

  • 60g dried apricots
  • 10g desiccated coconut
  • 1 teaspoon honey

Instructions

  1. Place your first batch of ingredients (apple or pineapple) into the bowl.
  2. Blitz on speed 7 for approximately 30-60 seconds. Each batch will differ slightly in time due to texture and moisture in the fruit.
  3. The longer you blitz the better it mixes and combines.
  4. Stop and test the batch by rolling some in your hand. If it is too wet add a little extra coconut. If its too dry add a little extra honey or an extra date.I didn’t find I needed to with the amounts listed in the ingredients section but each dried fruit brand will differ slightly in texture and moisture.
  5. Roll into small balls.
  6. Coat in desiccated coconut.
  7. Store in the fridge for up to a week or freeze.

Notes

  • You are wanting to use dried apple chunks for the apple balls not dried apple rings. The chunks are much different in texture.
  • Prep Time: 20
 

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Mini Fruit Balls


  • Author: The road to loving my Thermo Mixer
  • Total Time: 20

Description

The traditional method


Ingredients

Scale

Cranberry

  • 60g dried cranberries
  • 2 pitted dates
  • 10g desiccated coconut
  • 1 teaspoon honey

Apple

  • 60g dried apple chunks, see note
  • 2 pitted dates
  • 10g desiccated coconut

Strawberry

  • 60g dried strawberries
  • 2 pitted dates
  • 10g desiccated coconut
  • 1 teaspoon honey

Pineapple

  • 60g dried pineapple chunks
  • 10g desiccated coconut

Apricot

  • 60g dried apricots
  • 10g desiccated coconut
  • 1 teaspoon honey

Instructions

  1. Place your first batch of ingredients (apple or pineapple) into a food processor.
  2. Blitz on high speed for 30-60 seconds. Each batch will differ slightly in time due to texture and moisture in the fruit.
  3. The longer you blitz the better it mixes and combines.
  4. Stop and test the batch by rolling some in your hand. If it is too wet add a little extra coconut. If its too dry add a little extra honey or an extra date. I didn’t find I needed to with the amounts listed in the ingredients section but each dried fruit brand will differ slightly in texture and moisture.
  5. Roll into small balls.
  6. Coat in desiccated coconut.
  7. Store in the fridge for up to a week or freeze.

Notes

  • You are wanting to use dried apple chunks for the apple balls not dried apple rings. The chunks are much different in texture.
  • Prep Time: 20
 

 

 

 

 

4 Comments

  1. Hayley Dymond January 14, 2015 at 7:24 pm - Reply

    Hi 🙂
    Just wondering why some have dates added and others don’t?
    I bought dried blueberries today and was going to make some of the mini fruit balls with those, but not sure if I should add the dates or not.
    Thanks!

    • Peta January 16, 2015 at 7:23 pm - Reply

      Some just required the extra moisture from dates. You can add or leave them out. You may just need to up your dried fruit content 🙂

  2. monica February 3, 2015 at 9:23 pm - Reply

    So I used apple rings, as I didn’t read the recipe properly, and then because today it seems I absolutely can’t read, I added honey as well, and they actually turned out! They were the same texture as the apricot balls (of which I was able to follow the recipe haha!). I made blueberry one also, and added two dates and the honey, but ended up needing a lot of coconut. They are still tasty though!

    • Peta February 5, 2015 at 12:12 pm - Reply

      Oh thats great to know! Glad they worked out. Dont you love flukes!

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