It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas especially when you see and eat these healthy Christmas pudding bites topped with lush cashew cream! They taste just like the "real thing" plus they are loaded with loads of good stuff too.
As you might know from some of my previous recipe, such as this super tasty healthy toast 3 ways or these party tartlets, I am a massive fan and an ambassador for Bamix of Switzerland and their Superbox Hand Blender.
Which is the perfect helper to get these healthy Christmas pudding bites done in no time.
Back to the recipe. The ingredients are really simple and there is no added sugar, butter or eggs involved 🙂 Just plant based goodness, no bake, gluten free, dairy free, and grain free.
For the balls you will need a mixture of dried apricots, dried cranberries, dried sultanas, hazelnuts and almonds. As an alternative, you could use equal portions of raisins, currants or dates – prunes and figs would work nicely too.
Then you will need a generous amount of freshly squeezed orange and grated orange zest along with some cinnamon, nutmeg and pinch of ground cloves. If you want you can coat them in raw chocolate, but I love them just like that with nothing added.
Cashew cream is made with soaked cashews, almond milk, date nectar, and touch of cinnamon. Again you can use alternatives such as cashew milk or rice syrup, just see what can you find in the cupboard.
We don't need a lot of cashew cream in this recipe, so use a smaller blender or food processor. I love that Bamix Superbox comes with a small processor for grinding wet and dry goods which is just the perfect size for my cashew cream. Are you ready to start making?
Recipe
Healthy Christmas Pudding Bites
Ingredients
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup dried apricots
- ½ cup sultanas
- 1 cup hazelnuts
- ½ cup almonds
- Juice from half of orange
- Zest from half of orange
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground clove
- pinch of nutmeg
- Cashew cream ingredients
- ½ cup cashews, soaked for at least 4 hours or overnight
- 1 tablespoon rice syrup or any other liquid sweetener
- ¼ cup almond milk or any other plant based milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of cinnamon
Instructions
- Place hazelnuts and almonds in your food processor and pulse few times (I like them a bit chunky)
- Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until the mixture comes together.
- If you need more liquid for the mixture to come together you may add a bit more of the freshly squeezed orange juice.
- Form bites/ balls with the mixture and place in the fridge to set
- In the meantime make the cashew cream by draining the cashews and popping them in the processor together with the remaining ingredients.
- Blend until completely smooth.
- Add more milk if needed
- Final steps is spreading the cashew cream on each bite and decorating with pomegranate seeds, cranberries or red currants.
If you liked these healthy Christmas pudding bites, then check out my awesome Christmas Rocky road pudding ! Also my Gingerbread granola, Gingerbread man and Mince pies are firm favourites on Christmas table.
As always please, if you make this recipe share it with me either on my Facebook,Twitter or Instagram. I would love to see it! Hashtag #HediHearts
Much love,
Hedi
Amber scott
These sound yummy! Is there a cashew cream alternative that can be used as my little boy is allergic to cashew nuts. Thanks
Hedi Hearts
Hello Amber, you could try coconut whipped cream, there is a recipe on my blog. Or you could try white yoghurt too! Hope that helps lovely x x x
Christine
Hi Heidi can you tell me how long these should last in fridge if I haven't eaten them all tonight they are gorgeous
Hedi Hearts
Hi Christine, up to 3 days lovely. That is if they survive that long ? x x x
Maria
Hi Hedi, could I use just almonds without the hazelnuts? My little one is allergic to mostly all nuts but tolerate almonds.
Thank you xx
Hedi Hearts
Hello lovely, yes, you can. Works really well actually.
Merry Christmas x x