Guilt Free Carrot Cake Power Bites

In the fantastic 'We Should Cocoa' Sugar Free Chocolate Roundup last week, these Post-workout Protein Bites from Elizabeth's Kitchen caught my eye. Admittedly it was originally because she likened them to pony poo (appearance not taste you'll be relieved to hear!) but after reading through the ingredients list, it sounded like something I'd like to give a shot - they're packed full of dates, almonds and banana, with no refined sugar (and gluten free into the bargain) - so the ideal "cake" to let Mini-M have as a treat without feeling like too awful a parent!

Following Mini-M's preferred serving option for anything "In a little tub Mummy"

I've modified Elizabeth's recipe a bit, since a) I didn't want to make them chocolatey as Mini-M is a chocolate hater (whether dairy free or not!) and b) I had a carrot needing used rather than courgette hence the Guilt Free Carrot Cake Power Bites were born...

Guilt Free Carrot Cake Power Bites (Makes 24 mini or 12 larger bites)

• 2 cups of ground almonds
• 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1 medium-large carrot, finely grated
• 1 ripe banana
• 12 small dates
• 1/4 cup dark agave syrup
• 1/4 cup coconut milk plus 1 or 2 tbsp extra
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 160C and line 1 cupcake tin or 2 mini cupcake tins.
In a large bowl, mix together the ground almonds, brown rice flour and cinnamon.
Melt the coconut oil in a plastic jug, then add the other ingredients (apart from the 1-2 tbsp extra milk) and blitz with a hand blender until pureed.
Mix the wet into the dry ingredients. You should have a sticky dough - add more coconut milk if necessary.
Put spoonfuls into your tins, then bake for 15 mins until browned on top.
Cool on a wire rack.

With the omission of the cocoa from the inspiration recipe, these definitely don't resemble pony poo (or any other poo for that matter) which makes them less disconcerting to eat I'm sure. What's even better is that they taste really good. They've received a big thumbs up from all who have tried them, and you can enjoy them guiltlessly in the knowledge that they're a lot more natural than most other baked treats! Yes, they have sugar in them (from the fruit and agave), yes they have fat in them from the nuts and coconut milk / oil, but there's no weird stuff, and they pack a great energy punch which makes them perfect toddler snack food.

Cakes?? What cakes? There were no cakes here... just yoghurt (which they were dunked in before bring scoffed)