Evening, folks!
First of all, let me just thank all of you who left comments on the last post—you raised great, thought-provoking points and really got me thinking about the topic at hand. I really enjoyed reading all your comments! It seems like we’re all in agreement that people who come across as overly self-righteous and critical of those who can’t “go all the way” are doing more harm to the vegan movement than good. In addition, as you all noted, even if you can only do a little, you’re still doing something. All those “drops in the bucket” have to add up to a whole bucket of water eventually, right?
This afternoon, I got back to work on my balls recipe, and came up with one that, quite frankly, rocked my socks off. Last night when I was making my first batch, one of the biggest problems I encountered was scraping the dough out of my Vitamix. Because of this, today, I made the “flour” in the Vitamix, and then transferred it to my food processor for the rest of the steps. If you only have one or the other, you could most likely use it for all the steps. In addition, the recipe that I came up with is not overly sweet, but if you wanted to make it sweeter, you could add some stevia (I did last night) or some brown sugar or even more agave or maple syrup (which would make the dough a little stickier and wet).
Okay…here ya go!
Oatmeal Cookie Dough Balls
Ingredients
1 cup dry oats
1/2 cup raw cashews
5 dates, pitted
2 tbsp. agave nectar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
1 tbsp. water
Directions
In a blender, combine oats and cashews and blend until they have formed a powder. This will serve as your “flour.” Transfer to food processor:
Add remaining ingredients and pulse until a ball of dough forms:
Voila! Oatmeal cookie dough!
At this point, I removed the dough and divided it up into two balls: one for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and one for oatmeal golden raisin cookies.
For the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, I simply added a tablespoon of Sunspire Vegan chocolate chips. Likewise, for the oatmeal raisin cookies, I added a tablespoon of golden raisins.
To form the dough balls, simply remove about a teaspoon of the dough and roll between your hands to form balls. The dough will be sticky, but should form balls quite easily. If you notice that it is sticking to your hands, pop the dough into the freezer for 10-15 minutes and you should be able to roll the balls more easily.
This recipe made 16 balls, 10 of which I kept as “raw dough” balls. The other six, I baked in the oven for 40 minutes at 200 degrees (this was recommended by Averie if a dehydrator was not available) for a more “baked cookie” taste.
According to the recipe calculator at sparkrecipes.com, the nutritional information of each ball (plain, with no chocolate chips or raisins) is as follows:
Calories: 94
Fat: 4.3 grams
Sugar: 3.8 grams
Carbs: 12.6 grams
Fiber: 2.0 grams
Protein: 3.7 grams
Obviously the chocolate chips and raisins would change this a little, but not much considering that you are only adding a tablespoon of each.
I tried both the raw and the baked (obviously), and I liked them both! I’m a cookie dough freak, but the baked version was good too. You really just can’t go wrong.
I’ve already started thinking about other ball variations to try in the near future…you haven’t seen the last of these balls (that’s what HE said!).
Chocolate chip, raw:
Oatmeal raisin, raw:
The baked balls are in the middle (the difference is obviously negligible in pictures, but they taste different!):
Baked ball:
I would also like to say that Ryan has a package of regular chocolate chip cookies that he bought at the grocery store yesterday, and instead of having those cookies for dessert tonight, he opted for balls! Success!!!
Tonight, for dinner, we kind of created our own green bowls. Our bowls consisted of: eggplant, frozen mixed Asian veggies, tofu, yellow bell peppers, bok choy, and these, which were a new addition to our grocery cart yesterday:
Plus buckwheat soba noodles, all tossed with some Bragg’s liquid aminos and stir fry sauce. I also topped my bowl with a dollop of hoisin sauce—yum!
Yummmm…so delicious and easy! We don’t need no stinkin’ Green Bowl!
Well, that does it for tonight, kiddos. We are, as I bet you can guess, watching The Bachelor!!! 
Is it just me, or is Ali starting to resemble Rachel McAdams from Mean Girls? When did she become such a biatch?
I’m liking Gia right now…we’ll see how I feel by the end of the episode.
Have a great night!
theprocessofhealing said,
January 26, 2010 @ 1:40 am
Yummy dinner!!
And I agree about Ali. She was my favorite but wow.. don’t know what happened there :/
weightwatchersforone said,
January 26, 2010 @ 2:28 am
Those balls look delicious!!
I wish I had a food processor! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
actorsdiet said,
January 26, 2010 @ 2:29 am
i need some frozen mushrooms – i always like to use just a little and then they get all mealy and old in my fridge.
Anna said,
January 26, 2010 @ 1:17 pm
Yep, us too! That’s why we bought frozen this time!
greensandjeans said,
January 26, 2010 @ 3:03 am
Thanks for the ball recipe! Gia might be one of my new favorites after this episode, but then again, I still have an hour left to go…
Suzanne said,
January 26, 2010 @ 3:13 am
You had me at oatmeal cookie… yum! Your oatmeal cookie dough balls look like something I could seriously eat all day.
lpskins said,
January 26, 2010 @ 3:13 am
What dies Braggs taste like? I’ve never had it but imagine it to taste bitter. Those balls must taste great. (And you don’t hear that out of my mouth very often.) Inappropriate I know.
Anna said,
January 26, 2010 @ 1:16 pm
Nope, not bitter– it tastes alot like soy sauce, but a bit…oilier?
theemptynutjar said,
January 26, 2010 @ 3:34 am
Like the recipe…unique…if u have a food processor and skills and patience …not me
Interesting previous post also.
kbwood said,
January 26, 2010 @ 3:50 am
ahh i want Tenley to win in the bachelor!!
umm your dinner..AMAZING!
and those balls! itd be hard to stop at just one!
Anna said,
January 26, 2010 @ 1:15 pm
TEAM GIA!!! My money says it comes down to those two!
Christine said,
January 26, 2010 @ 4:56 am
Mmmm, the balls look amazing! Love my food processor, just wish it would clean itself
Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga) said,
January 26, 2010 @ 6:35 am
Thanks for the linkage and yes, a 200F will work if you like baked balls….but I am a real rebel and like my balls raw (twss!).
Great job. And yes, most raw ball dough can double duty for either choc chip OR oatml raisin, just depends what direction you wanna go with it. I dont personally make double batches and then split it off into 1 being choc chip and the other being oat rsn, but you totally could to save time with Vita Cleanup. Glad you got your hubby in on the balls
The prev post about being vegetarian, vegan, the whole bit….girl, I am so not into labels. I do what i have to do for food allergy issues and the ethics part is there, sure, but it doesnt drive me. I didnt even read the whole thing in detail, sorry, just have to say, dont stress, do what works for YOU!
xoox
Anna said,
January 26, 2010 @ 1:14 pm
Thanks Averie!! Your balls are an inspiration
Joanna Sutter (Fitness & Spice) said,
January 26, 2010 @ 11:54 am
I REALLY need to get a food processor! I tried making a similar recipe using dates and oats and all that jazz w/out one and it was a hot mess. But your recipe makes me want to run to Bed, Bath & Beyond and scoop up a processor!
Thanks 2 mill!
Karla said,
January 26, 2010 @ 12:46 pm
Balls everywhere! I might have to breakdown and just make some!
Anna said,
January 26, 2010 @ 1:14 pm
You should! They’re good…PLUS, you get to make lots of ball jokes
Bonnie said,
January 26, 2010 @ 1:23 pm
Hi Anna: Where did you get the frozen mushrooms? And, how would you rate them?
I don’t even wash mushrooms since they so quickly absorb liquid so I’m wondering how they react to being frozen. Your dinner looked delicious!
Anna said,
January 26, 2010 @ 2:00 pm
Hi Bonnie,
I just found them in the frozen foods section (in the “natural” frozen foods section, I guess). Hmmmm…on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being nasty and 10 being delicious, I guess I’d rate them a 7. They worked well in the stir-fry, but I think I’d be hesitant to use them in many other recipes. I think the freezing made them a bit rubbery, especially the stems. That being said, again, they worked well in the stir fry!
Have a great day!
Bonnie said,
January 26, 2010 @ 2:51 pm
Thanks Anna. If I find them, I will try them for stews, in stir fry, etc. It would be good to have them readily available, especially here in the “frozen tundra” where one can be snowed in without a lot of notice.
Heather (Where's the Beach) said,
January 26, 2010 @ 1:29 pm
I’m really going to have to try those cookie balls. They sound tasty (and easy to make). Your Asian bowl looks fabulous too!
Ashley said,
January 26, 2010 @ 1:44 pm
You are an amazing cook — I’ll just stop over for dinner on my way home.
The dough balls look delicious but awfully tiny for 94 calories. I could see myself wolfing down three or four (OK, or five), no sweat.
Have a good day!
Anna said,
January 26, 2010 @ 1:58 pm
Um, yeah, it’s totally possible to eat five of these in one day…not that I know from personal experience, or anything like that…
I’d like to try to find a way to make more dough without adding a lot of calories– maybe more oats?
Ameena said,
January 26, 2010 @ 2:43 pm
Oh these look so amazingly easy and delicious! I don’t have a food processor but I wonder if I could use my magic bullet instead?
Also, with regards to your last post, I really want to try Sunshine Burgers but can’t find them at my Whole Foods! One of these days I will hunt them down!
Karin said,
January 26, 2010 @ 2:49 pm
It’s so typical that I always miss super interesting posts… I loved that you adressed this issue in your last post and couldn’t agree with you more. Sometimes I feel like I’m not doing enough but on other days I think “hey, at least I don’t eat meat!”.
. I constantly make new batches which isn’t really smart because once I start eating them I can’t stop!
Anyway, I love your balls (twss!)
Kelly said,
January 26, 2010 @ 3:08 pm
YUM! All of your eats looked awesome! I also agree that raw cookie dough is awesome! I swear I like that better than the baked ones!
Morgan @ Healthy Happy Place said,
January 26, 2010 @ 3:08 pm
those balls are awesome! lol.
seriously, I’ve been dying to try out my food processor, but haven’t found anything I really want to make. These cookies sound like something my fiance would love, so I’m definitely going to try it out!
Gabriela said,
January 26, 2010 @ 4:57 pm
So jealous of your Vita…it’s at the top of my appliance list (that and a dehydrator). The balls look delicious, I’ve been eyeing them up on Averie’s site, too!
Katie said,
January 26, 2010 @ 9:32 pm
The raw cookie balls look bomb! I need a food processor in my life ASAP!!
Loving the yummy dinner too!!!!
Have a great day!!
Gena said,
January 26, 2010 @ 9:49 pm
What delicious looking treats!
anutritionisteats said,
January 26, 2010 @ 9:53 pm
I might need to make some balls tonight
LC @ Let Them Eat Lentils said,
January 26, 2010 @ 11:05 pm
I can’t believe you made it through this whole post with no TWSS or ball jokes. Maybe you’re just a better person than me … They look fabulous.
Anna said,
January 27, 2010 @ 1:26 am
I made a lot of TWSS jokes with our bean balls, so I figured I had to draw the line somewhere