Another double shot for you – Eagle Eye Cherry and Wild Cherry…very VERY different, but both edible audibles. I’m going to cut straight to the chase otherwise I might not get this post in before midnight – I have literally just finished making these. Apologies for the shitty photos, it is 11pm and the lighting is TERRIBLE! I had a camera in one hand while trying to hold a lamp behind my head all the while thinking about being asleep in bed.
Cherries are not in season here at the moment, so I’ve used dried and fresh in this recipe. I was originally planning to make a raw cherry ripe slice, but lost the motivation to complete it and thought that balls would be less work. It never works out that way though, and I was stuck tediously dunking individual balls into chocolate rather than just pouring it in a tray and letting it set. Oh well, you live and learn, don’t you?
Cherry Ripe Balls
(makes a bunch)
1 cup cashews
1 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup dates
1/3 cup frozen cherries
2 Tbsp rice bran syrup
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
150g dark chocolate
OR
100g dark chocolate + 1 Tbsp coconut oil
Put cashews in food processor or blender and process until they resemble coarse crumbs. Add cherries, dates, frozen cherries, rice bran syrup, vanilla and salt and blend until combined.
Transfer to a bowl and stir through coconut. If mix is too moist, add a little more coconut.
Roll into balls and place in the freezer to set.
In a double boiler, melt chocolate. I didn’t have enough chocolate to use it alone, hence adding coconut oil to make it spread further. I would have liked to do just chocolate and get a nice thick shell, but these were really good too. Coat each ball in chocolate and return to freezer until set. Voila!
Little Vegan Bear 
Oh yes. I’ve made buckeye balls for parties and it always takes longer than I think to coat each ball in
chocolate and cool.
I always make such a mess of the kitchen in the process too. Chocolate everything!
These look soooooooo tasty! And the ginger ice cream – wow! Might have to make that for Christmas Day dessert 🙂
Thanks Rosie! Great idea – it would fit in so well with typical Christmas flavours.
oh man. These look so good. I am such a sucker for the cherry+chocolate combo. YUMZ. I kinda like the rolling-in-chocolate part of this kind of project, but it does get pretty darned messy by the end!
Agreed, choc-cherry is a winner. I definitely think it can be a relaxing activity – I often like those repetitive cooking actions, particularly when I’ve had a stressful day – It is quite calming and gives me a chance to clear my mind. Perhaps the time constraints of needing to get the recipe out for MoFo (I think I posted this at about 11.55pm last night haha) put the pressure on me a little more..
I nominated you for Liebster Award! You can check out the rules and details on my recent post: http://one-sonic-bite.com/2014/09/liebster-award-the-vegan-edition/
Thank you, that’s so kind! I will definitely accept it after MoFo x
Cherry and chocolate is the best combination!
Every time I hear Save Tonight I am instantly transported back to my uni days, it is such a strong memory trigger for me (that and Sugar Ray’s Every Morning)
It is a delicious combo! I’m the same, though I wasn’t in uni yet at this time. Definitely a nostalgic song. Ha! I remember Sugar Ray being on the hottest hits of ’99 CD (I think it was 99…)
Ah, we bloggers make ourselves suffer at times, don’t we! I’ve baked late at night many times and on occasion I’ve just discarded the whole post due to having crappy photographs!!! I’m glad that you shared this one though. Anything with cherry and coconut is a winner in my opinion! The chocolate looks beautiful and glossy, despite the fact that dunking each one took forever. I do hope that you ate one before crashing into bed (just to make the late night work a bit more worthwhile!) xx
Absolutely – this month has sure been an example of that! Many late nights cooking, many mini kitchen meltdowns haha. I definitely ate one, but I always find they taste better the next day when you haven’t been tasting the mixes along the way – by the time they are done I am usually over them! Thank you for your kind words 🙂 xx
My mouth is watering!
Hehe thank you!
these look delicious – and great effort to get the post up – I know the feeling of cooking too late at night and writing up a post too late at night so appreciate seeing you doing it
Thank you! It’s nice to know that others do similar silly things…you kind of stop and think to yourself WHAT AM I DOING taking photos of food at midnight? Caraaaazy.