Cherry Bakewell Energy Bites

I haven’t made a health(ier) treat in my Optimum 9400 blender from Froothie for ages now.When I got my blender a couple of years ago, I experimented quite a bit. Not just smoothies, but energy bars, that type of thing.
One of the most popular was raw coconut ‘fudge’ which was coconut, dates, some vanilla and a bit of salt – that was it. There were also the very bright apricot and goji berry balls, plus some raw chocolate and peanut butter pinwheels.
The Optimum 9400 is a blender like no other and can blitz almost anything – even concrete. They made a video of the blender crushing through the stuff, so you know it can handle just about anything.
I recently picked up a large bag of dried cherries from a corner shop (seems they are selling Costco cast offs?!) and I knew what I would turn them into!

I also picked up some blanched almonds and had some almond extract in the cupboard. Perfect for making these cherry Bakewell energy bites.

They taste just like cherry Bakewell (and sadly do look a bit like corned beef!), but only contain the dried cherries, blanched almonds, some oats, almond extract and I coated them in ground almonds to finish as they are a bit sticky.
The resulting healthier treat, has that familiar flavor and can give you an instant hit of energy if you are going for a long walk say!

The cherries are very sticky when blended and another blender would not cope with the super sticky mass which the recipe creates.
To clean the Optimum 9400, I just poured in some water from a recently boiled kettle, a squirt of washing up liquid and whizzed it up. Easy as that.
Here’s the recipe for the Cherry Bakewell Energy Bites…
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Cherry Bakewell Energy Bitesby S Vettese May-5-2016Dried cherries, almonds and oats - that's it!Ingredients

• 260 grams dried cherries
• 150 grams blanched almonds
• 50 grams porridge oats
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 25 grams ground almonds

InstructionsPlace the cherries, blanched almonds, oats and extract in the blender.Blitz until they form a sticky ‘dough’Transfer to a small plastic container (approx. 4”x6”) and press down firmly.Place in the fridge to chill for a few hours.Unmould from the container and cut into bars with a sharp knife.Roll each ‘bite’ into the ground almonds.Keep chilled until ready to enjoy.DetailsPrep time: 5 mins Chill time: 2 hour Total time: 2 hour 5 mins Yield: 24 bites
Disclosure Statement: I received the blender free to review and will receive remuneration if you purchase a blender through the link on this page.