Jingle Balls

• These scrummy baubles of lushness disappear in a flash whenever we make them. They’ll serve fantastically as stuffing balls for your Christmas lunch, but can really be made at any time of year, and are just as good served as a main course with spuds and gravy (in which case we call them British Bhajis!) The marriage of sweet/savoury tastes and textures, all held together by meltingly slow-cooked onions, is what makes them so gorgeously moreish. Give them a try!
• A great way of using up bread
• Equally great with gluten-free loaves
• Recipe can be modified to suit what you have around
• Try adding a handful of chopped nuts, fresh herbs or cubed apple!
• For an extra deep dimension, lightly toast the seeds before adding them to the mix.

Organic Pumpkin Seeds (1kg) - Sussex WholeFoods

150g Pumpkin Seeds

Organic Apricots (500g) - Sussex WholeFoods

150g Apricots

Organic Olive Oil Spread 250g (Biona)

150g of olive oil spread

Organic Chestnuts, Cooked and Peeled by Organico 200g

1 packet chestnuts

Organic Sunflower Seeds (1kg) - Sussex WholeFoods

120g Sunflower Seeds

Parsley Leaves 30g, Organic (Sussex Wholefoods)

2 heaped tablespoons Parsley

Orgran No Egg 200g - Natural Egg Replacer

3 heaped teaspoons

Black Peppercorns, Organic 100g (Sussex Wholefoods)

Several very generous twists of coarsely-ground pepper

Profusion Himalayan Rose Pink Salt - fine 500g

A large pinch

Other Ingredients

• 400g bread – wholemeal is fine. Stale bread works brilliantly!
• 1kg Onions
• A few cloves of garlic

Method

1. Chop the onions and garlic.
2. Melt the olive oil spread in a large, heavy-bottomed pan and place on a low to medium heat.
3. Add the chopped onions, garlic and parsley.
4. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until everything’s soft and unctuous and has started to caramelise.
5. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.
6. Tear the bread into small pieces.
7. Mix together the bread, onions, garlic and parsley with the pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.
8. Chop the apricots into pieces and add these.
9. Chop the chestnuts into good-sized chunks.
10. Add a good amount of freshly-ground pepper and salt (plenty of seasoning is needed).
11. Mix well, then add the egg replacer (or 3 whole eggs) and mix again. Get your hands in there!
12. If mixture doesn’t stick together reasonably well, add a small amount of water until it does.
13. Form into golf-ball-sized spheres and place on an oiled baking tray.
14. Cook at 190℃ for around 20 minutes, turning once.