Walnuts and dried fruit bites

Combining dried fruits and walnuts is not a new concept. Our ancestors have been using them as a regular meal. Nowadays, we munch them for snack between meals and during traveling or as ingredients in more complex dishes.  Going to basics, I and my sister combine them, making dessert bites (cake replacement for coffee/ tea time) appropriate for all seasons. On my last trip to Bulgaria, I even got my mom, my aunt and a couple of friends to fall in love with them. They're that good... and addictive!

Ingredients


3/4 cup of orange juice
1 1/2 cup of blended walnuts/ almonds (the finer they're blended, the easier it is to work with the dough)
1/4 cup of fine oatmeal (I blend that too until it looks like flour)
7 dried apricots 
4 dried plums
1/2 cup of raisin
3/4 cup of coconut flakes
2 t. sp. espresso/ rum (unless children will eat from them)
1 t. sp. honey


Method


1. Finely chop the dried fruit and leave it to soak in the orange juice for about 30 min.
2. Mix the nuts, the oatmeal and half of the coconut flakes in a bowl.
3. Add the soaked dried fruit, the espresso/ rum  and honey to the bowl and form dough out of everything. It should be moist and somewhat sticky, so that you can form bite-sized balls out of it.
4. Cover the balls with chopped nuts, coco powder and/ or the rest of the coconut flakes.




Note: You can add and replace ingredients to fit your taste!