Amaze Balls

As a vegetarian with aspirational vegan tendencies coupled with a serious liking for chocolate, and a desire to give my toddler healthy snacks I have been coming up with ways that I can enjoy the taste of chocolate without having to spoil it with cow pus or exorbitant quantities of sugar!  I am a fan of Nakd bars which are made with raisins and nuts and stuff and I thought I would have a go at making my own using the ingredients listed on the pack.  

Here is my first attempt at a chocolatey vegan homemade snack, I call them Amaze Balls because you will be amazed at the flavour (and they are ball shaped!(and it sounds awesome!))

This is how I made them:

In a blender place 5 dates, 50g raisins, 2tbs coca powder, 50g cashew nuts and 1/2 tsp orange essence. 

Blend until they become a thick paste,

Roll into beautiful shiny balls,

EAT!

(Warning these are addictive! They won't be around for long!)

Elderflower Champagne

In the past I have made elderflower cordial and elderflower presse, but never champagne, so I had to give it a go, I mean what could be more delicious to enjoy on a warm summers evening than glass of bubbling homemade Elderflower Champagne? or as I prefer to call it; Elderflower Berkshire.  I made this a few weeks ago and now I have 6 bottles good to go.  Can't wait to share it with friends in the garden.  Here is how I made it:

I got 4 liters of hot water,
700g sugar,
2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar,
About 15 elderflower heads in full bloom, gathered on a sunny day,

Juiced and zested the lemons

Added the sugar to the hot water in a sterile fermenting bucket,

Added the lemon juice and zest to the bucket then topped the bucket up with enough cold water to make up 6 liters,

Added the elderflower heads and white wine vinegar,

Got a little boy to give it a stir,

Covered with a cloth then left for a couple of days.  I then checked it, it was foamy, and fizzing but if it wasn't I would have added a pinch of yeast to get it going  Left it for another four days then filtered it through a clean muslin.

Poured it into sterilised bottles and left for at least a week before drinking, frequently releasing the pressure from the carbon dioxide that is produced in the bottles by the continued fermentation process. 

DRANK IT!!  Sorry I didn't photograph that but I can assure you it was delicious, so sweet and fizzy!  Definitely worth making again, it didn't take long to make and was super cheap, just lemons and sugar really.  Give it a go before all the elderflowers have gone!

Have you even made elderflower champagne?  Was it delish?  What else have you tried?

Here is the full recipe I used courtesy of channel four and River Cottage.

Don't forget to gather the elderflower away from the road.