These Cacao Bliss Balls take just minutes to make, contain just 6 ingredients, are free from refined sugars and are perfect for on the go snacks, your work lunchbox, and after dinner munchies. Packed with high fibre and protein, like these Chocolate Weetbix Balls.
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recipe highlights
- You can make them in 10 minutes
- Makes 16 balls
- A great low calorie snack. Under 120 calories per serve
- Great lunch box filler for work or school
- There's no added sugar because they're sweetened with fruit
- They keep in the fridge for a week and you can even freeze them.
- They're tasty, full of chocolate flavour and better for you than a chocolate bar! Just like these Chocolate Coconut Date Balls.
Ingredients
Almonds, Cocoa Powder, Shredded Coconut, Natural Peanut Butter, Medjool Dates, Cocoa Nibs.
key Ingredient Notes
- Medjool Dates: these are the base of the recipe, providing taste, texture and sweetness and they help to bind the balls together. Madjool dates are recommended as the are soft and juicy and have less fiborous skins which means they blend well.
- Cocao Powder: Unsweetened Cocoa powder is best to use as there is plenty of sweetness from the dates. You should be able to find it in the health food aisle of supermarkets (Coles and Woolworths in Australia)
- Cocoa Nibs: these provide a texture in the bliss balls. Cacao nibs are small crushed pieces of roasted cacao beans that have a rich, slightly bitter chocolate flavor and are often used as a crunchy, sugar-free alternative to chocolate chips.
Other Notes for Success
- Shredded Coconut: the coconut is for flavour and texture and helps to add moisture to the balls. Desicated coconut will also work.
- Natural Peanut Butter: this is to help bind the balls together and for taste and flavour. Smooth or crunchy peanut butter works, but do make sure to check the label to make sure there's no added sugar
- Almonds: any type of almonds will work - toasted or untoasted. If you buy the toasted almonds, you'll get a more earthy flavour in your bliss ball which I find quite nice.
How To Make This Recipe
- Prepare Dates: Soak the dates in hot water for a couple of minutes to soften, then squeeze all the water out of them with your hands, or by pressing them against a strainer. Set aside
- Prepare Almonds: Add almonds to food processor and blitz until a fine crumb is formed
- Add rest of Ingredients to Food Processor: Add dates, peanut butter, coconut, cocoa nibs into your food processor and blitz until a sticky crumb is formed.
- Roll into Balls: Take a dessert spoonful of mix and roll into a ball, repeating until all done.
Expert Tips
- Getting the right consistency: These Cocao Bliss Balls won't need any extra moisture to bind the ingredients. The dates and peanut butter are enough. Just make sure to soften the dates in hot water before hand and remove any excess moisture.
- Rolling the Balls: use damp (not wet) hands to avoid the mixture sticking and lumping on your hands. You might need to clean and wash, then lightly dampen your hands a couple of times to get clean round balls.
- Storage: To make sure your Cacao Bliss Balls stay as fresh as possible, it's ideal to store them in an air tight container in the fridge if you live in a hot area, or on the counter if in a cooler climate.
- Freezing: Freeze them in a plastic or glass container for upto 8 weeks. To defrost, let it come to room temperature naturally, or put container into the fridge overnight so they thaw out.
I'm quite a fan of bliss balls because they're just so easy to make. Some of my favourites are these apricot bliss balls, date free bliss balls, mango protein balls, and these sugar free bliss balls.
5 Ways Bliss Balls Help You Snack Sensibly
- Pair these with your morning coffee at work for a healthy and filling snack to tide you over until lunch.
- Pop one if you feel the 3pm munchies coming on.
- In the "in between time" where you're on your way home from work and on your way to the gym. Its a great little energy boost that won't weigh you down.
- Stop the hangries before they happen with a trusty little Cacao Bliss Ball.
- After dinner when you "suddenly" realise you have a craving for something sweet. This little number will hit the spot and not send you over the edge with a sugar high.
If you have a spare 10 minutes this weekend and you're looking for a healthy snack for work lunchboxes, this is a great recipe to make.
You may also like to check out my Chocolate Almond Date Balls if you love chocolate as these are perfect for after dinner cravings.
More Bliss Balls
Chocolate Cacao Bliss Balls
Kim Morris
These Cacao Bliss Balls take just minutes to make, contain just 6 ingredients, are free from refined sugars and are perfect for on the go snacks, your work lunchbox, and after dinner munchies.
Ingredients
- 8 Medjool Dates
- 5 tablespoons Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
- 3 tablespoons Cocoa Powder - unsweetened
- 3 tablespoons Cocao nibs
- 3 tablespoons Natural or Sugar Free Peanut Butter
- 1 cup Almonds
Instructions
- Prepare Dates: Remove seeds from 8 Medjool Dates (if not already removed). Place deseeded dates into a bowl of hot tap water for 5 minutes. Drain the dates (scrunch them in your fingers to remove excess water) and set aside.
- Blitz Almonds: Add 1 cup Almonds to a food processor and blitz until they resemble a crumb.
- Add Rest of Ingredients: Add 5 tablespoons Shredded Unsweetened Coconut, 3 tablespoons Cocao nibs, 3 tablespoons Cocoa Powder, 3 tablespoons Natural or Sugar Free Peanut Butter and softened dates. Blitz ingredients for 1 to 2 minutes until the mixture comes together in sticky clumps.
- Roll Into Balls: Take the blade out of the food processor and roll the mix into 16 balls.
- Store: Store in an air tight container in the fridge for upto 5 days.
Notes
- Medjool Dates: these are the base of the recipe, providing taste, texture and sweetness and they help to bind the balls together. Madjool dates are recommended as the are soft and juicy and have less fiborous skins which means they blend well.
- Cocao Powder: Unsweetened Cocoa powder is best to use as there is plenty of sweetness from the dates.
- Cocoa Nibs: these provide a texture in the bliss balls. Cacao nibs are small crushed pieces of roasted cacao beans that have a rich, slightly bitter chocolate flavor and are often used as a crunchy, sugar-free alternative to chocolate chips.
- Shredded Coconut: the coconut is for flavour and texture and helps to add moisture to the balls. Desicated coconut will also work.
- Natural Peanut Butter: this is to help bind the balls together and for taste and flavour. Smooth or crunchy peanut butter works, but do make sure to check the label to make sure there's no added sugar
- Almonds: any type of almonds will work - toasted or untoasted. If you buy the toasted almonds, you;ll get a more earthy flavour in your bliss ball which I find quite nice.
- Getting the right consistency: These Cocao Bliss Balls won't need any extra moisture to bind the ingredients. The dates and peanut butter are enough. Just make sure to soften the dates in hot water before hand and remove any excess moisture.
- Rolling the Balls: use damp (not wet) hands to avoid the mixture sticking and lumping on your hands. You might need to clean and wash, then lightly dampen your hands a couple of times to get clean round balls.
- Storage: To make sure your Cacao Bliss Balls stay as fresh as possible, it's ideal to store them in an air tight container in the fridge if you live in a hot area, or on the counter if in a cooler climate.
- Freezing: Freeze them in a plastic or glass container for upto 8 weeks. To defrost, let it come to room temperature naturally, or put container into the fridge overnight so they thaw out.
Nutrition
Calories: 117kcalCarbohydrates: 13gProtein: 3gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 2gFiber: 2gSugar: 8g
Note: Sugars contained in this recipe are from naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables or other natural sweeteners. Calories have been calculated for your convenience using My Fitness Pal and are based on the ingredients listed in the recipe card.
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Jan says
I can't have peanut butter or almonds. Any ideas for substituting pecans and anything else??
Kim says
You could try substituting peanut butter with Almond Butter or Cashew Nut Butter - these would be the best options. Or if you can't eat nuts, you could try tahini which I buy from the supermarket, or coconut butter however you might need to go to a healthy food store to find this. Whatever you substitute, use the same quantity as peanut butter.