Now these can be as healthy or as decadent as you choose to make them - or a lovely mixture of both of course.

My sister started making them (after a friend shared the recipe - well, you can't really call it a recipe, more an idea really) for my niece and nephew as an alternative to the same kinds of things you can get from health food shops.

Basically just a mixture of dried fruit and nuts they're full of natural sugars and fats and great for a little natural energy high mid-morning or afternoon.

We made these ones a bit more indulgent by including a few squares of chocolate - and I'm already thinking of things I'll include in future versions.

My next concoction will be for adults as petit fours with after-dinner coffee - am thinking lime zest, dark chocolate, chilli flakes, stem ginger and dried cherries could all come into play. Maybe a drop of orange liqueur. And experiment at some point with a drop of my doTerra peppermint oil to create an after-dinner-mints version.

Anyway, how we made them yesterday - and as you can tell, you just mix and match what you feel like and what you have in the cupboard - was with the following:

nuts - we used cashews and hazelnut flakes

dried fruit - we had prunes, dates and raisons

extras - a few squares of chocolate

crunchy peanut butter to bind - we started with a tablespoon

Then you just put it all in the food processor and whizz it up ... check if it needs more peanut butter as it needs to be squidgy enough to hold when you make the little balls.

We added another smaller spoonful of peanut butter and then it looked like this, and was ready to make into balls.