This recipe came straight from fig bars I saw on Instagram by Sophie Ella. I have changed up the ingredients and the balance of sweet & salty.

My goodness they are good (and super quick to make) and a fantastic protein snack to get you through the day.

PS this makes a serious amount of balls approx 60 so by all means half the recipe, use them to make up Christmas presents (or do as I did freeze them in an air tight container so you always have a protein snack on hand).

Fruit and Almond Protein Balls

Ingredients

600g Almond butter (I used my local The Almond Farmer)

9 tbspn Sticky Quince Syrup

Approx 200g of mixed dried fruit (I used 17 figs, 2 pears, 4 peaches, 5 apricots) that is roughly chopped or put through your blender. I did make my fruit quite minced, you can choose to make it chunky or minced.

3 pinches of salt

2 tbspn of monkfruit sweetener, salted caramel flavour (this is completely optional I just had a craving at the time)

8 tbspn almond meal

Approx 400g Melted dark chocolate to dip your balls into

Toppings - shredded coconut, salt flakes (optional)

Method 

In a saucepan, over low heat, mix together the almond butter, sticky quince syrup and salt until smooth.

Once mixed through turn the heat off and add your chopped/minced fruit, almond meal and monkfruit sweetener (if using). Mix thoroughly

Roll the mixture into bite size balls and put in the fridge while you melt your chocolate. 

Your chocolate can be melted in a small saucepan over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave on very low heat (and stirring every 30 secs) you don't want the chocolate to get too hot and burn before it actually gets to melt.

Use a fork to then dip each ball into your melted chocolate. Top with coconut or salt flakes before the chocolate completely sets (optional).

Keep stored in an air tight container (and in the fridge if the temp is getting hot or humid). This makes a very big batch which I portioned out and froze some so there was always some protein snacks on hand when we need them. Or you could package them up for Christmas presents.

You can make a nut free version of these simply by upping the amount of mixed dried fruit to approx 800g in total and not using any almond butter or meal.

Now I'm not totally sure I can still call it a Hummingbird cake if there is no pineapple. Probably not but its still delicious and this is my recipe for our annual ode to this family favourite.

Pikelets (well we have always called them pancakes but that’s a Heward thing) have always been big in my family as a weekend breakfast and definitely Christmas morning. So, I have been making them for a long time, since maybe ten years old. I remember using Mum’s Australian Women’s Weekly cookbook, and then me buying a Best Recipes version (which is now old… I think that makes me old).

When Frankie was a baby and began to eat solids, I started playing with the recipe to add in more vegetables (zucchini and carrot are our standards), wholemeal flour, our dried figs and to decrease the amount of processed sugar. Now we add all sorts of things - natural yoghurt, buckwheat, quinoa, grated turmeric, chia seeds, cacao, protein powder. My vegan version replaces the diary with coconut milk and the egg with flaxseed.

Then of course for total decadence the last magnificent step of the toppings including strawberries, raspberries, Kakadu plum and raspberry powder, sun dried figs, quince, apricots and a drizzle of our sticky quince sauce.

Keeping it simple here is the Base recipe which I have adjusted over many years from an Australian Women’s Weekly recipe.

1 cup wholemeal self raising flour or gluten free flour

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 dessertspoon of chia seeds

1/3 small grated carrot

1/3 cup of grated zucchini

A couple sun dried figs chopped up

1 egg

2/3 cup of milk and maybe alittle extra

1/3 cup of natural yoghurt

Method

Sift the flour into a bowl, add the sugar and chia seeds. Grate in the carrot and zucchini and add the chopped fig. Add in the egg, 1/3 milk, yogurt and mix the dry ingredients through. Slowly add the remainder of the milk and mix until you get any lumps out- but try not to over mix. I usually let the mixture stand for about 10 minutes. After the mix stands it does thicken so you might need to add alittle more milk but don’t make it too runny. Heat a fry pan and melt some butter and oil into it. I drop tablespoons of the mixture into the pan onto the hot pan; when bubbles appear flip the pikelet over.

Makes about 20.

Serve your pikelets on a plate with whatever topping makes you smile. I usually include slices of our fresh and dried figs, sun dried quince, strawberries/raspberries or blueberries, a dash of Kakadu Plum Powder and a drizzle of our sticky quince sauce (coming soon).

Batter variations

• I love a version where I pre-cook ¼ cup of quinoa and ¼ cup buckwheat and add this to the base mix.
• Add a scoop of Protein powder (I use Pureplace) and 2 tablespoons of cacao powder to the base recipe. I usually drop the carrot and zucchini because there are too many flavours for Frankie but it could still work with it all in there. Just add more milk so its not too thick say another 1/3 of cup
• Add grated fresh turmeric to the base, I totally love this tang to the pikelets.
• A vegan version is to replace the cow’s milk with coconut or almond milk and use flaxseed eggs to replace the egg.

And if you are feeling even fancier I use this same batter in a waffle maker- it works superbly. I’d totally love to hear your variations too so Frankie and I can start cooking them soon!

People have asked me frequently what I do with our semi-dried figs. Now this is a reasonable question because Australian dried figs can be pretty hard to source let alone the soft sticky dried ones we produce.

I add dried figs to almost everything we eat. They are super delicious and packed with potassium, calcium, magnesium and fibre. Perfect little nuggets of goodness. In my mind there are so many options but some of my recipes might stretch the boundaries alittle on traditional food pairing.