Carrot Cake Balls

Makes about 25 balls

1 C carrot pulp (Use pulp left over after juicing or I throw carrots into my food processor until they are so finely chopped they are more of a mushy pulp vs solid and finely chopped)

1/2 C almond pulp (left over solids from making almond milk)

1 C of dates (soaked & pitted, you want them to have soaked long enough that they are mushy & pliable)

1 tsp vanilla (when I use fresh vanilla bean, I cut it in half lengthwise & scrape the insides & use 1/2 of the vanilla bean here & the other 1/2 for the frosting)

1 tsp pumpkin spice blend

1/2 tsp cinnamon mix (make your own blend by mixing cinnamon, nutmeg, clove- I only use a bit of the nutmeg & clove as they can be overwhelming spices & use more cinnamon)

dash of sea salt

-With your hands, mash all the ingredients together in a bowl. You want to rip & mush the dates apart and really work it into your mixture so it becomes somewhat sticky. If it’s not sticky enough, try adding a bit more “stick factor” by adding a couple more dates.

-Roll into small balls (Tip: Make balls small rather than big because these bad boys are going to be sweet and you don’t want to have an overwhelming amount in your mouth all at once. Better to eat 2 small ones vs one giant one)

-From here you can get fancy & roll them in coconut flakes, frost them (recipe below), or keep them simple by doing nothing else

-Place balls in refrigerator (If making these for friends or a party, I usually make them the night before. I find that leaving them in the fridge overnight allows them to really hold their shape.

Frosting

1 C cashews (soak for at least 30 min & no more than 1 hour)

Juice of 1 large lemon

3 pitted fresh dates

1 tsp vanilla (when I use fresh vanilla bean, I cut it in half lengthwise & scrape the insides & use 1/2 of the vanilla bean here & the other 1/2 for the frosting)

fresh purified water

-Except for the water, place all the ingredients in a blender or food processor.

-Begin to blend & slowly add water.

-Watch for the mixture to become creamy. Feel free to stop the blender & taste test for the desired consistency. Better to go slowly than add too much water and make a watery frosting.

To obtain almond pulp you’ll need to make almond milk, but making these 2 delicious concoctions practically go hand in hand because once you realize they have similar ingredients, and that some ingredients for one depend that you make the other, it becomes pretty obvious that these 2 recipes were just meant to be made together-what sounds better than frosted carrot cake & warmed almond milk? Read the recipes & follow the sequence of events depicted below to make this process as seamless as possible, because trust me, it can get messy!