Adzuki Bean Bites
Super-easy earthy, chocolatey little balls made from cooked adzuki beans, pecans and dates, rolled in nuts or coconut — with a little kick of sea salt.
Ingredients
| 1/2 cup | 120 ml | dried adzuki beans |
| 3/4 cup | 180 ml | cooked adzuki beans |
| 3/4 cup | 180 ml | pecans |
| 6 | dates | |
| 1/4 cup | 60 ml | cocoa powder |
| 1/4 tsp | 1.3 ml | vanilla extract |
| 1/4 tsp | 1.3 ml | salt |
| — | rice milk (optional) | |
| — | chopped cashews, chopped pecans or shredded coconut, for topping |
Instructions
These are super easy to make – just take about a half cup of dried adzuki beans and boil them in maybe 3 or 4 cups of water (just cover them by a couple inches and make sure they don't boil down too dry) for an hour or so, until they are nice and soft. (That's more than a half cup worth of beans; I made a full cup since I didn't know how many I'd need for the recipe.)
Blend 3/4 cup of cooked beans, 3/4 cup of pecans, 6 or so dates, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, and a 1/4 tsp each of vanilla extract and salt together until nice and creamy. It may take a minute or two – if it's too dry you can add a splash of rice milk but it's not really necessary. You'll end up with a great creamy mixture.
Scoop out a tablespoon or so at a time and roll into nice little balls. I rolled them in three different toppings: chopped cashews, chopped pecans, and shredded coconut. You can do all three or just one or pick something else to use as a topping. Spread your chopped nuts or coconut on a small plate and roll the balls around in it until they are covered. Set them in the fridge for about an hour or so to firm up and enjoy!
These are sort of earthy and chocolatey with a little kick of sea salt – if you enjoy salt and chocolate together you'll probably dig these. My favorite is the pecan topping, but the coconut is pretty darn good too.