This month's Royal Foodie Joust features the ingredients: almond, lime and raspberry. Elle chose these ingredients after winning last month's joust with her delicious looking Mango Buffalo Wings.I was very happy she picked almonds since I was already on a mission to clean out the nuts in my freezer. I also immediately knew I wanted to play with one of Alex's favorite snacks, Just Raspberries. These tart dried raspberries were the inspiration for my no-bake, mostly raw, almond "truffles". There is always leftover raspberry dust after Alex has eaten the whole ones and I've thought it would be great to coat the outside of cookies. I based my recipe loosely on this raw chocolate fudge and the Midwest favorite buckeye balls. The balls themselves are sweetened only with dates but I added a little sugar in the raspberry coating to buffer the tartness. The resulting tangy snacks remind me of key lime pie made into a pretty, pink, crispy-centered truffle. They are best stored in the freezer so the rice krispies stay crisp but I'm proud to say it wasn't even two days before mine were all gone. My husband John was a big fan.
Key Lime Pie Truffles
Tart and crispy no-bake treats that remind me of key lime pie.
Makes 36 balls
1/2 cup Just Raspberries* (freeze dried raspberries)
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup raw almonds
3/4 cup chopped dried dates, pits removed
2 1/2 teaspoons key lime zest
3 tablespoons key lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups crisp rice cereal
*You can find Just Raspberries in health food stores, Whole Foods and many larger grocery stores in the health food section. You can also buy them direct here.
1.) Pulse the raspberries, sugar and cinnamon in a food processor until they form a light pink powder. Tap the top of the food processor bowl and allow the dust to settle before opening. Pour the powder into a bowl and set aside. Wipe out the food processor bowl, washing is not necessary.
2.) Add the almonds to the food processor and pulse until they form a coarse meal. Add the chopped dates, lime zest, lime juice and salt. Process until it comes together like a cookie dough and the dates are distributed evenly.
3.) Scrape down the bowl if needed and add half of the rice cereal. Process until incorporated. Add the remaining cereal and repeat. This gives you some smaller cereal crunch and some larger.
4.) Form teaspoon sized balls and roll in the raspberry mixture.
5.) Freeze any uneaten balls. They are great right out of the freezer.
