Remember me? It’s been such a long time since I was regularly posting…I mentioned last time that I was working full-time and the crazy long hours were why I hadn’t been blogging. Well, the long and short of it is that that job was definitely not right for me. I won’t go into details but I’m moving onto better and brighter things and am determined to make the time for blogging while doing so.
I missed everything about it, and especially all of you (!) too much to not keep it up so I hope you’ll have me back!
Lemony foods make me think of spring. Maybe it’s because daffodils and fluffy ducklings are yellow…or perhaps just because I tend to be drawn to lighter, fresher flavours at this time of year. Whatever it is, we’re kicking things back off around these parts with a healthy lemony snack/dessert.
Whiz up your cashews in the food processor until flour-like
These White Chocolate Coated Lemon-Cashew bites are mighty tasty and just so happen to be raw, vegan, paleo and candida-diet friendly! Nice to have something everyone can enjoy…not that I did a lot of sharing!
They take just a few minutes and a few ingredients to put together. You *could* stop after the first couple of steps I suppose for plain ole Lemon-Cashew bites but I highly recommend making that little extra effort and going for the white chocolate coating too. The sweet creamy chocolate balances out the zingy interior perfectly and takes these into treat territory.
I’ve talked before about my past fondness for white chocolate and last year came up with a recipe for raw, vegan white chocolate chips which I’m pretty happy with.
I recycled that recipe here for the white chocolate coating with just a teeny tweak to use coconut instead of cashew butter (along with cacao butter). If you don’t have cacao butter then feel free to replace it with an equal amount of coconut butter + 1 tsp coconut oil. Still delicious!
I made the bites from cashew flour - just whole cashews ground into flour using my Froothie Optimum 9400 Blender - works great!
Ingredients
- Lemon Cashew Bites:
- 1 ¾ C Cashew flour*
- 1 Tbsp Lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp Lemon zest (zest of 1 large lemon)
- Pinch of Vanilla powder
- 1 Tbsp Coconut oil, melted
- 1 Tbsp Coconut nectar(or liquid sweetener of choice)
- Pinch of salt
- White Chocolate Coating:
- 4 Tbsp Melted cacao butter (Approx 55 g)*
- 3 Tbsp Raw coconut butter
- 1 Tbsp Coconut nectar + 5 drops stevia (or an extra 1 Tbsp coconut nectar)
- Pinch of vanilla powder
Instructions
- Add all ingredients for the lemon-cashew bites to a food processor and pulse until combined. You should have a thick dough-like consistency but it shouldn't be too sticky or wet.
- Roll the mixture into small balls and place on a plate covered in parchment paper in the freezer to firm up.
- Gently melt the cacao butter and coconut butter together over a double boiler (glass bowl over a pot of boiling water), remove from heat and add the vanilla powder, coconut nectar and stevia, if using.
- Set aside to thicken up slightly for 5-10 minutes at room temperature, stirring occasionally.
- Dip each bite in the chocolate coating until it is completely covered. Scoop out carefully with a fork, and tap the fork handle on the edge of the bowl so that excess coating drips back into the bowl. Place back on the parchment lined plate and return to the freezer until coating is solid (about 5 minutes); then repeat the coating process once more.
Notes
*To make cashew flour grind raw cashews in a food processor until a flour (see image)
*Cacao butter may be replaced with more coconut butter. In this case, the mixture will be less liquid and so should be kept over a pot of hot water to prevent it seizing up whilst coating the bites.
Thanks for all your kind messages asking after me while I was away. It meant a lot to me.
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Welcome back…you were missed!
These look delicious…I plan to make these for an Easter treat.
Thank you. Let me know how you like them. They’d be perfect for Easter!
Need to find cashew flour!!! These look awesome!!
If you have cashews you have cashew flour! I just grind raw cashews down in a food processor. Easy peasy!
nice to have you back but even better to hear you have been able to sort out your work to suit you better - and those balls sounds interesting but a bit lemony for me - though I think I would love them with lime
Thanks Johanna. Still trying to get everything sorted but things are definitely on the up! I adore lemony desserts but wouldn’t say no to lime either!
So glad to see you are back! We’ve missed you in all the usual gathering spots.
Thank you for the welcome back Eve. It’s been strange to be so out of the loop! Happy to be here again
Welcome back! These look terrific. I have a similar treat on my blog that’s spicy and more wintery, but I love the lemon idea! Going to try these as my “spring is here” treat!
Thanks Ricki - I’m glad these are up your street. As much as I love chocolate desserts…lemony ones are usually a serious contender.
Hi, welcome back & Thanks for sharing this gorgeous recipe - I will try these for the birthday of my best friend <3
If interested, I would love some visitors at my new blog
http://www.tinyveganelephants.blogspot.com
Thank you :*
Thanks Anna! And for introducing me to your blog too
Welcome back- so good to hear from you again. hope your next job works out
I love the look of these; perfect after work treat for me!
Thanks Sarojini. A tasty treat you can feel good about eating!
Welcome back Emma. It is good to see a blog post from you. Everyone missed you. I am glad that you are no longer at a job that does not suit you. Time is precious so why waste it? Love your post - as usual.
Thank you Sharon. I’m definitely on the same page. Every day I was there was a day I could have been doing something which would make me happy! Glad to be blogging again of course.
So glad to have you back and even more proud to hear you have made decisions that best serve YOU!! xx
Thank you Jo. That means a lot
I’ve learnt a lot from the experience - especially that I need to be in an environment that makes me happy and doing something I’m passionate about!
Welcome back! Glad you’ve got the time to blog again. I think it’ll be a long time before I doxp This is a gorgeous looking recipe! I’m usually not into lemon flavoured desserts but here I reckon this tart/sweet combination would probably win me over:D
Ah, sorry you’re not a lemony girl. The creamy coating does soften the tanginess though. Thanks for the welcome back!
yay! missed you, lady!
Thanks Caitlin - missed you too! I haven’t had a lot of time for reading blogs either
Yay, you’re back! I’m so pleased, I missed your recipe (and you!)
Thank you Clem! I didn’t realize how important blogging and this community was to me until I was out of it. Happy to be back.
You’re back!! Nice to have you positing again, but totally understand why you have been absent. I am planning on making homemade chocolate over the Easter period and so these when I get some cacao butter I definitely want to make these! Look forward to more posts from you
Thanks Nicola. So pleased to be back! I am definitely going to take your idea and make some homemade chocolate for Easter too. Hope you enjoy these. They’re good with just a simple dark chocolate coating as well.
Yum Emma! These look delicious! So sorry the job didn’t work out - on to better and bigger things then!
Thanks Vicky. It’s a learning curve and I did get a lot out of the experience - even if it was finding out what I don’t want to do!
Hope you get to try these treats
Welcome back. Sorry to hear things weren’t working but here’s to your new beginning.
Thank you Janet. Hopeful that things will all align themselves soon!
These sound gorgeous. I miss the flavour of white chocolate, so that white chocolate coating recipe is something I’m looking forward to trying!
Thanks Aimee. I do adore dark dark chocolate these days but occasionally the thought of white chocolate pops into my head!
I made these yesterday and they were so yummy! I just happen to have all of the ingredients and thought I’d give it a shot. I love lemony sweets so this was right up my alley and I was curious about trying the white chocolate! Soooo good I couldn’t stop eating them! They were easy to make too, although mine weren’t nearly as pretty as yours! I’ll put my photo on IG later and tag you! Thanks for the recipe!
Yay! So pleased you made and enjoyed them Nicole. Look forward to seeing your picture
Hurrah for lemon lovers!
I am complete sucker for treats like this. You have nailed the flavours, and of course in a super-blender like the Froothie it is incredibly easy to achieve a fab texture that makes you reach for more! Great recipe. Pinning etc!
Thanks Kellie. These kind of things are pretty dangerous for me to keep around. I have to freeze them to stop me eating them all at once!
These look absolutely amazing!!!
I love lemon, it’s one of my favourite flavours!
Lemon tart is one of my absolute favourite things, but these look equally delicious!
Lorna | naturally-bee.blogspot.co.uk |
Lemon tart is one of my very favourites too! I have a raw recipe I love http://www.coconutandberries.com/2014/06/13/raw-lemon-tartlets-strawberry-nut-crust/ but would love to try a more traditional baked version some time.
Yay! More cool things to do with coconut flour!
I just used shredded coconut ground into flour here but I’m sure coconut flour would be great too. Might give them more of a cakey texture!
Love these lemony treats…they are delicious!
I had a problem with the coating and I hope you can tell me what I did wrong. I followed the recipe except I used vanilla extract instead of vanilla powder. My coating melted fine…I let it cool about 8 minutes and the sweetener congealed and separated from the oil. I tried reheating, but that didn’t help. Do you think I heated it too much and the coconut nectar turned to candy? I don’t have much experience with cocoa butter so I don’t know what went wrong.
Thanks.
Hi June, glad you enjoyed them, even if the coating didn’t turn out quite right.
I imagine you’re right and you just heated it too much. The best way to avoid separation is to heat gently and stir frequently. Hope that helps! Thanks for trying the recipe.
Welcome back to blogging:) These bites are definitely up my alley- I also loooove lemon, especially in spring!
I am a lemon fiend! I usually pick lemony desserts over chocolate - though I love chocolate in bar form
These look so tasty!
Thanks Diva. Hope you give them a try! I need to make another batch soon.