Have a little fun this holiday, make a big batch of Hanukkah Camel “Poop” to help celebrate this festive season!  

HANUKKAH CAMEL “POOP” – Chocolate Covered Dried Fruit and Nut Balls

Don’t worry, Hanukkah Camel Poop is really Chocolate Covered Dried Fruit and Nut Balls!

I’m incredibly fond of dried fruits, so when I decided to make some Dried Fruit and Nut Balls for Hanukkah, they needed to be with delicious Middle Eastern ingredients.

That’s why I chose cashews and almonds, which are both so compatible with dried figs, apricots, dates and dried cherries.  And to make them just a bit more special for the holidays, I added some chopped candied ginger.

Before I forget, if you could use a helping hand with your Hanukkah holiday hostess duties, you’ll want a copy of my 2021 Hanukkah Holiday Planner PDF!  I’ll tell you all about it a little later in this post.

 

DRIED FRUIT AND NUT BALLS – A Fabulous Holiday Treat

When I’m working on a new recipe, I find it’s lots of fun to do a little deep-dive into the history of the dish.  What I found was that most recipes for Dried Fruit and Nut Balls have some kind of liquid added.  

A few use plain water, but many add a splash of alcohol, such as Grand Marnier, to lend a hint of orange to the mixture. Since Hanukkah is such a family holiday, I didn’t want any alcohol in this recipe.  Everyone will want to gobble up these delicious delicacies!  

As with my choice of fruits and nuts, I again looked to Middle Eastern cuisine for my answers.  What would be a tasty substitute, but also add that touch of citrus I was seeking?  

 

The answer?  Orange Blossom Water! 

I started thinking about how many ways rose water is used in Middle Eastern cooking, and voila, I knew what to search for.  A quick visit to Amazon, and two days later, I had a bottle of this lovely orange flavoring in my kitchen.

When hubby and I tasted these treats, we started with a plain one to make sure the mixture’s flavors were balanced.  They were divine!  But after being enrobed in chocolate, the orange blossom water flavor had been somewhat overwhelmed.

I adjusted the recipe, adding a bit more orange blossom water, and the next batch came out just right!

Are you ready to make some Chocolate Covered Dried Fruit and Nut Balls, a.k.a., Hanukkah Camel “Poop”? 

 

 

DRIED FRUIT AND NUT BALLS – PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Once you’ve gathered all your components, it’s really a simple matter of processing and combining all the ingredients.

• After processing the dried fruits, nuts, honey and orange blossom water, you can chill the mixture until it’s firm enough to roll into balls if the ambient temperature in your home is too warm.
• I like to roll the balls with my hands moistened with an ice cube to keep them from getting messy during the process. Cool, moist hands keep the mixture from sticking too much. 
• Every 4 or 5 pieces, remoisten your hands until you’re finished rolling all of the fruit and nut balls.

 

 

Now comes the fun part!  Let me show you how to enrobe your Dried Fruit and Nut Balls in a layer of rich chocolate!

• Chill the finished fruit and nut balls on the prepared pan for at least 90 minutes.  They can be tightly wrapped and dipped the next if you’re pressed for time. 
• Melt chocolate in a small, but deep bowl in the microwave per the recipe.
• Using a fork or candy dipping tool, lower each dried fruit and nut ball into the chocolate and roll for full coverage.
• Lift ball out on fork and let the excess chocolate drip back into bowl.
• Place dipped balls on a wire rack just until the coating is firm. Remove dipped balls to a parchment-lined baking sheet until completely firm.
• Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.

 

You’ll find the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.

 

If you’re going to be giving away some of your fabulous Hanukkah Camel “Poop”, you’ll need the perfect present packaging too!

Let me show you what I’ve created to help with your holiday gift giving!

 

HANUKKAH CAMEL “POOP” PACKAGING LABELS

Don’t forget to download your set of Hanukkah Camel “Poop” Gift Labels too!  They’re available in the IFAFL Subscriber’s Resource Library.

The first set is a rectangular label that’s perfect for using on cellophane or paper gift food bags. The oddly shaped ones are made to fit a half-pint size Asian food container. You’ll use 2 labels for each container.

Last year I made incredible labels and packaged up my Bourbon Caramel Corn for New Year’s Eve.  Don’t forget to add some festive ribbons for a fabulous holiday gift from your kitchen.

Here’s two different ways to print your labels:

• Print the PDFs on Avery Full-Size Shipping Label Pages to produce “stickers” 
• Using glossy photo or white stock paper, print and glue your labels to your packaging

 

 

I hope you’ll give these fabulously festive Hanukkah treats a try, and I’ll bet you’ll receive plenty of smiles and smirks when giving them as gifts too!

Make sure you share your pics of the finished gift packages, we’d love to see them over at THE FAB LIFE FACEBOOK GROUP.  We’re on a “Need to See” basis over there!

Now it’s time for me to tell you all about this incredibly valuable holiday resource, the 2021 Hanukkah Holiday Planner!

 

2021 HANUKKAH HOLIDAY PLANNER

This 2021 Hanukkah Holiday Planner doesn’t just cover your holiday meal planning, baking and gift giving!  It also contains the essentials every Jewish family needs to celebrate Hanukkah with the proper blessings and candle lighting order.  You have to start somewhere, and my Hanukkah Holiday Planner is a great place to begin.

When it comes to keeping organized and having a complete plan for Hanukkah’s many tasks, this planner does it all!  The 2021 Hanukkah Holiday Planner includes 32 instructional and planning pages.  I know, it sounds like A LOT!

But you must remember there are 8 nights of Hanukkah to plan for.  That means that 16 of the pages are just the Hanukkah Dinner Menu Planners & Prep Lists!  Don’t start making excuses, you’ll have enough ink, I pinky promise!  This is exactly how you’ll stay organized and on-task throughout the holiday season.  

 

MAGICAL HOLIDAYS DON’T JUST HAPPEN – THEY’RE PLANNED

All the different tools I’ve created within my Hanukkah Holiday Planner will help you organize your holiday tasks, shopping and scheduling.  You can be assured that nothing important to your weeklong celebration will fall through the cracks!  

So, now you can see just how valuable a holiday planning tool this really is!  I’m even making sure you don’t lose track of your online Hanukkah shopping!  It’s so easy to get confused when you’re buying lots of presents from online catalogs and stores. 

Just download and print the FREE PDF, and I predict a much less stressful holiday season than you’ve had in the past!  I’ll tell you how to get yours a bit later in this post.

First, let me share a few more Hanukkah Holiday Posts to help you have an absolutely fabulous holiday!

 

Hanukkah Holiday Planner and Gourmet Latkes

 

2021 Hanukkah Holiday Buying Guide

 

Hannukah Guest Menu and Place Cards

 

Middle Eastern Hanukkah Celebration Feast

 

3 Gourmet Latkes for Hanukkah and New Year’s Eve Appetizers

 

 

 

WANT YOUR OWN HANUKKAH PRINTABLES?

Would you love to have unlimited access to all the fabulous printables in the IFAFL Subscriber’s Resource Library?

Why aren’t you on our list yet? Come join the fun!

Fill out the form below and you’ll receive unlimited access to our Resource Library as a thank you for joining the IFAFL Email Subscriber Community.

As an Ingredients For A Fabulous Life Subscriber, you’ll get instant access to all the fabulous printables in the IFAFL Resource Library and receive our weekly emails.

What are you waiting for?  You don’t want to miss out on anything fabulous, do you? 

There’s always something fabulous happening here at Ingredients For A Fabulous Life, don’t you want to stay in the loop?  

And while you’re at it, come join the gang in our Facebook group and get in on the gabfest at, The Fab Life!  That’s where we show off our triumphs and share our pursuit of “the good life” with each other all week long.  

 

 

 

 

Hanukkah Camel "Poop" - Chocolate Covered Dried Fruit & Nut Balls

Yield: 30 pieces

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Additional Time: 4 hours

Total Time: 4 hours 45 minutes

Middle Eastern dried fruits and nuts rolled into balls with candied ginger, honey and orange blossom water make a fabulous Hanukkah treat. And when they're draped in a fabulous coating of chocolate, you can call them HANUKKAH CAMEL "POOP" - SPECIALTY PACKAGING PRINTABLES AVAILABLE

Print

Ingredients

• ½ cup whole almonds
• ½ cup whole cashews
• ½ cup dried cherries
• ½ cup dates, chopped
• ½ cup dried apricots, chopped
• ½ cup dried figs, chopped
• 2 tsp. candied ginger, finely diced
• 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 heaping Tbsp. honey (orange blossom is fabulous in this recipe)
• 1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp. orange blossom water
• 6 oz. dark or milk chocolate, chopped
• 1 tsp. shortening or unsalted butter

Instructions

DRIED FRUIT & NUTS BALLS

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Place the almonds and cashews a baking sheet and toast nuts for 7-9 minutes or until lightly brown.  Let cool for 5 minutes before chopping coarsely.
2. Prepare a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
3. In the bowl of your food processor, combine the nuts, dried fruits, ginger and confectioner’s sugar. Pulse mixture until it’s finely minced and starts to come together. 
4. Add honey and just enough orange blossom water to bind the mixture enough to form balls.
5. With hands moistened with water, shape mixture into 1-inch balls, rolling in your palms to form sturdy round shapes. Place balls on prepared baking sheet.
6. Chill fruit and nut balls in the refrigerator for at least 90 minutes before dipping in chocolate. They can be chilled overnight, wrapped tightly, if you want to dip them the next day.

DIPPING CAMEL “POOP” IN CHOCOLATE

1. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil in a 1-quart saucepan. Reduce heat to keep it just simmering.  Put the chocolate and shortening in a heatproof bowl that will fit on top of saucepan. Place the bowl over the simmering water until melted, stirring once to help mixture melt completely.
2. Once melted, remove bowl from the heat and place on a dry dishtowel. With a skewer or fondue fork, dip the balls into the chocolate and let the excess drip back into the bowl. Make sure to twirl the balls in the chocolate to ensure the entire surface is coated.
3. Place dipped balls back onto the prepared baking sheet. Once all the fruit and nut balls have been dipped, place the baking sheet into the refrigerator to chill until the chocolate is completely set.  It will take a few hours to completely harden, so give them at least 3 hours to be sure.
4. Can be stored in the refrigerator, in an airtight container, for up to two weeks.

Notes

SPECIALTY PACKAGING AVAILABLE - See Related Post For Details

Nutrition Information

Yield 30 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 96Total Fat 5gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 3gCholesterol 2mgSodium 32mgCarbohydrates 13gFiber 1gSugar 11gProtein 2g