Deliciously Ella Cashew & Ginger Energy Balls

When One Treat posted a review of the new Delicious Ella Energy Balls recently I had to seek them out...I'm becoming a big fan of "clean" snacks like this, what with Nakd bringing out Posh Bits and even Whitworths bringing out a "Full of Super" snacks range (a review of their Cacao Maca-Roons to come later...)

But this Ella is a lady I've heard a lot about since she launched her cookbook - she's been very successful indeed. That success has translated into her own new product range, which doesn't necessarily mean anything since even Gillian McKeith (remember her? Amazingly, she's still alive *insert hand over mouth emoji*) had her own snacks range back in the day. So the burning question is...are Ella's treats any good?

Ingredients: 3 dates, 8 cashews, 1tsp oats, 1/4 tsp ground ginger.

Well, let's remember they're aimed at a specific market: the super health conscious, where clean ingredients rule and refined sugar is the devil. Which is all well and good as long as the product still tastes edible, right? Because who wants to eat something that looks like a lump of horse poo if it doesn't at least taste nice?

There, I said it, and so did One Treat in case anyone wants to have a go at me. It looks like a lump of poo. Granted, Nakd bars aren't all that pretty either but at least they are uniformly shaped. This just looks like a huge brown blob. What else is there to compare it to?!

Moving on from the aesthetics, thankfully it smelled more appetizing than it looked - it had a strong ginger aroma. I like ginger; it's settling on the stomach when I've over-indulged...so I was hoping this would be an easy eat.

It tasted...OK. The texture is firmer than a Nakd bar thanks to the presence of oats (see ingredients list further up) and the flavour is a lot more "natural" and lets say, earthy. It's not quite as sweet as a Nakd bar, which is actually a good thing because it doesn't feel quite so naughty. All in all it tasted very clean and nutritious and made me feel like one healthy snacks reviewer.

These are priced at £1.89 which is a lot for 40 grams, but with products like this I always try to remember that they're using whole, unrefined ingredients so they're going to cost a little more. The fact it's got a deliciously-on-trend name attached surely helps bump up the price too!

Overall, not a bad effort from Ella, I would buy these again if I happened to be passing Waitrose and was on a "healthy" push...but they wouldn't be a regular indulgence. Now, I'm interested in trying the Cacao and Almond & Hazelnut and Raisin Energy Balls...both were sold out when I bought this, so they must be popular!

Deliciously Ella Cashew & Ginger Energy Balls are vegan, dairy free, gluten free, refined sugar free and contain 152 calories, 6.8g fat, 20.2g carbohydrates, 1.5g fibre & 3.5g protein per 40g ball.

8 out of 10.