Any personal favourites from your pantry can be thrown into this mixture.

This recipe can easily be doubled to use a whole can of condensed milk – you could make two batches with different nuts, seeds and dried fruits, roll one lot into balls and press the other into a square tin to make a slice, iced with chocolate and sea salt sprinkles. Toasting the coconut brings out its lovely, nutty flavour, and the buckwheat groats turn into irresistibly crunchy little morsels, even once rolled into the batter.

Keep the wet-to-dry ingredient ratios  the same as in the recipe to ensure the final  result isn’t too sticky or too crumbly.

Profile

Time: 20min, plus chilling time

Makes: 15 balls

Cost: $10

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup desiccated coconut
• 3 tbsp buckwheat groats
• 50g butter
• 200g condensed milk (half a can)
• 1/4 cup cacao/cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 4 Weet-Bix
• 1/3 cup walnuts, crushed
• 1/2 cup oats
• 2 tbsp cacao nibs
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• Nut/cookie butter (for filling)

To coat

• Melted chocolate
• Sea salt
• Toasted desiccated coconut
• Cocoa powder

Method

Put the coconut and buckwheat in a pan and dry-toast over a medium heat for about five minutes, stirring constantly, until the coconut is golden brown and the buckwheat is starting to pop.

Melt the butter with the condensed milk in the microwave in 30sec bursts. Stir to combine, then mix in the cacao, vanilla and salt. Crush in Weet-Bix, walnuts, oats, toasted coconut and buckwheat, cacao nibs and pumpkin seeds (and/or your other desired fillings) and mix well, ensuring everything is coated in the brown batter.

Shape into balls with your hands – if the mix feels soft and this is proving difficult, chill it in the fridge for 30-60min first.

To make nut butter-filled balls: Using a tablespoon measure, scoop out hemispheres of mixture. With your fingertip, or the end of a narrow utensil, press a wee hollow into the flat surface of each hemisphere, then spoon a blob of nut butter into the hollow of every second one.

Cover with a plain half and press together firmly in your palms.

To coat: Melt chocolate, remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Place balls into the liquid chocolate one at a time, roll around with a fork (ensuring all sides get covered) then carefully remove and place on a wire rack, sprinkle with salt immediately and then let set. For the cocoa or coconut, sprinkle a layer on a plate a few millimetres thick, and roll balls through it until their surface is coated.

Place in an airtight container and store in the fridge.