Carob Balls? More Like PB Balls.

    My dad and I are in LOVE with carob after trying some type of carob square or bite. We first saw them at a health foods store in Cedar City months ago. I admit I didn't try the ones from Cedar City, but my dad said they were good. My dad tried to make them last as long as possible, but at last nothing last forever. Lucky us when we stumbled into Cali's Natural Foods for our first time we saw that they had carob bites! These had a few different ingredients then the others, but they are full of nut and very light and crunchy.

For those of you that don't know what carob is it a lot like chocolate. Unlike chocolate though it has a naturally sweet taste to it and is completely safe for dogs. It's even said that in Ancient Egypt it was a common sweetener and used in hieroglyphs for "sweet".

Carob has some amazing heath benefits to it as well. 

• It's great for digestion.
• It's great for infants or adults who have diarrhea 
• It has no caffeine for the people that are worried about lowering their caffeine intake.
• It's said to help lung cancer if eaten on a regular basis.
• It lowers the cholesterol level in blood.
• Carob contains vitamin E which helps cure flu, cough, anemia, and osteoclasis.
• Plus probably more that I don't know about.

Carob is a great alternative to people that can't eat chocolate like my dad for instance. Even if you can have chocolate I recommend carob because of all it's health benefits alone! Warning though it may take you a few bites to get used to it, but after three bites of it I was hooked!

Since the getting buying carob bites can get so pricey my dad told me I should make some. I told him I couldn't make them into squares, but in the form of balls would easily be do able. So off I went searching for a recipe that sounded something like the carob bites we've been eating. I found nothing that sounded like them, but I did get a few ideas. There I was grabbing a jar of peanut butter(since I didn't have any almond butter(that I wanted to use at least), oats, pumpkin seeds, raisins, and some raw honey(you could easily use agave, brown rice syrup or even maple syrup). I threw them all in the food processor and formed some balls(I have the hardest time not laughing while saying that). They turned out good, but more like a peanut butter cookie with a after taste of carob. In fact.......I just went and got one to eat right now. mmmmmmm(:

Peanut Butter Balls with Hint of Carob

made about 22 1in. balls

2/3 Cups pumpkin seeds or pepitas

1/4 Cup oats

2/3 Cups peanut butter

2 Tbsp liquid sweetener of choice(like raw honey, 100% maple syrup, etc.)

2 Tbsp + 1 tsp carob powder

1/2 Cup raisins*

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until combined.

Then form them into balls or shape them into a mold and put in fridge for at least half an hour so they set.

* for the raisins pack them down in a cup if they're loosely packed then measure about 2/3 cup. I recommend putting the raisins first in the food processor unless you want chunks of raisins.

Up Close Shot

I think this recipe needs a bit tweaking(swap with almond butter and more carob or carob chips?), but for my first try they weren't terrible. I can't wait to have fun experimenting with these though. I'll definitely be venturing of from different flavors besides carob and peanut butter too.