Chocolate Covered Coconut Cashew Balls

Oh my heck - the name just says it all, doesn't it?  To me, it says HEAVEN IN BALL FORM!  I love cashews.  I love coconut.  I love chocolate.  How on earth have I lived so long without consuming such a wonderful treat?  Look at them!  They are DIVINE!!!!!

So I suppose you want the recipe?  Well, you can go to where I found the original recipe at Lux Hippie but I had to change the recipe a wee bit - mostly to actually make it vegan and a bit more affordable.

What I Used:

2 1/2 cups raw cashews  (you can use all cashews - just use 4 cups total)
1 cup blanched almonds
1/2 cup blanched peanuts
1 1/2 cups coconut sugar or vegan powdered sugar (regular powdered sugar isn't vegan)
1 13.5 oz can of coconut milk
1 3/4 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
1 tsp vanilla
2 bags of vegan chocolate chips (regular semi-sweet chips are not vegan)

Instructions:

1.  Put can of coconut milk into freezer for at least 45 minutes.  This will allow the water and the coconut cream to separate.  Take special care not to jostle of shake the can when you take it out of the fridge.  Open can and scrape off just the coconut cream into a bowl.  You do not need the water - just the cream.  Mine was pretty stiff so allow to get back to room temp while you gather your ingredients.

2.  In the food processor, pulse the nuts.  You will want the nuts to resemble a somewhat course sand.  You do not want it to become puree...just a sand-like substance.  You can use any kind of nuts, so long as they total 4 cups.  I just couldn't justify the cost of 4 cups of raw cashews.  Since the majority of the mix was cashews, it's the predominant flavor.

3.  Add coconut sugar (or powdered sugar), unsweetened coconut, and vanilla.  Mix very well.  Because my coconut cream was not quite at room temperature, the only way I could fully incorporate it into the mix was to use my hands.

4.  Roll mixture into balls and place on a lined cookie sheet.  Place in freezer for a couple of hours.  It will be much easier to dip the balls in chocolate once they are completely frozen.

5.  Next, dip balls into melted chocolate.  I just nuked my vegan chocolate in the microwave in 15 second intervals, stirring each time.  Because chocolate chips (of any kind) are not tempered chocolate or a dipping chocolate, they will only harden when kept in the refrigerator.  You will absolutely need to store these in the fridge and serve them cold.  If not, you will have a mess.

*Please note that little hands most definitely melt these Quadruple C Balls, you will want to make sure that your child either eats them fast or you have a sink nearby.  My 2 year old was COVERED in chocolate.  She looked like she had a fu manchu of chocolate with chocolate gloves on.  It was awesome.  lol.

**Also note that these taste great without being covered in chocolate.  I only used one bag of vegan chips because I wanted to save some of the balls to eat without chocolate.  They are perfectly yummy as they are.