Vegan Date and Nut Pops (laddoos)



On my path to becoming a vegan diva by choice, I am constantly on a quest for vegan Indian desserts. My taste buds don't crave sugar but I love to make traditional Indian sweets for my family occasionally.
After a successful veganised sheera attempt during Diwali, I decided that it was high time I innovated another recipe. And thanks to the rainy cold days this last weekend, I was reminded of North Karnataka's Dink Laddoos. They are made of dates, coconut , almonds etc and of course ghee. These laddoos were part of my post-partum diet during the cold Japanese winter season because of their high nutritive value (vitamins, calcium and iron) giving a natural immunity boost.
The vegan diva in me awakened to make ghee free and sugar free dink like laddoos.  I made best use of my pantry  and worked on the nutrition part to include:
               vitamin E (sesame),
               Omega 3s (nuts) 
               iron, vit A, zinc & potassium (Dates),  
               fiber (fig)
               calcium/Vit D (almond milk)
               antioxidants (cranberries, plum and apricots)
               Fructose (raisins)
               Protein&B complex (coconut)
I had to come up with a binding agent to hold the nuts together and I to decided experiment with flax powder.  Perfect outcome and it made my weekend and best of all, it takes only 5 minutes.  
I would brand this recipe as another home made flu shot.
Ingredients:
Dates coarsely chopped -1/2 cup
Dried figs coarsely chopped -1/2 cup
Mixed chopped nuts(broken cashew&  walnuts, blanched almonds) -1/2cup
Raisins and Cranberries -1/4 cup
Unsweetened plain almond milk-1 tbsp
Roasted flax powder-1 tbsp
Roasted sesame - 2 tsp
Coconut dessicated -2 tbsp
Optional dried plums, persimmons, apricots all coarsely chopped -1/4 cup( I used them )
Mix together dates and figs in a bowl with almond milk and microwave for 1 min on high. When they are soft and warm, mix all the other ingredients including flax powder thoroughly.
Shape the mixture into round balls . 
They are ready to be served.
This recipe makes about a dozen medium sized laddoos.  Serve at room temperature. 
Alternatively: 
You could substitute  almond milk with plain milk/coconut or soy milk.
Sesame can be replaced with roasted hemp hearts.


Itadakimasu!!!

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