Carrot Cake Bliss Balls

These are no-bake carrot cake bliss balls that are made with wholesome ingredients and they’re freezer-friendly.  They’re naturally sweetened with dates and raisins, making them perfect for snack time. 

These carrot energy balls don’t require any baking.  They’re great for meal prep, as a snack, a healthier dessert for your sweet tooth, or kids’ school lunches (unless the school is nut-free).  There is no added sugar in the recipe, it’s sweetened with dates and raisins.  

The recipe calls for ground cinnamon and ginger to give the vegan bliss balls that carrot cake-inspired flavor.  Then we’ll make them a little bit fancy by rolling them in shredded coconut.  If you enjoy these, you might like my recipe for apricot energy bites using dried apricots.  

For more oat-based snacks try raisin oatmeal bars, baked blueberry oatmeal cups, blueberry lemon oatmeal cups, or banana nut oatmeal cookies.

Jump to:

• Recipe features
• Ingredients
• Tips
• How to fix bliss balls that are too sticky?
• How to fix the dough if it's too dry?
• Instructions
• Storage
• Related recipes
• Recipe
• Comments

Recipe features

• Quick and easy!
• Naturally sweet!
• Freezable!

Ingredients

Just a few simple ingredients are needed to make this healthy bliss ball recipe with dried fruits.  Please see the recipe card below for a complete list of ingredients and exact measurements.

Raw carrots - Gotta have carrots for carrot cake bliss balls.  I just rough chop the carrot before throwing it into a food processor.  Then chop them up finely with the food processor.

Cashews - Once the cashews are ground up, they add fat which will help hold the energy bites together.  I haven’t tried making them nut-free, but sunflower seeds may work.  If they don’t add enough fat and the vegan bliss ball mixture isn’t sticking together, try adding a tablespoon of water at a time while the food processor is running (or see notes below for dry bliss balls).

Old-fashioned Oats - I use rolled oats as the main ingredient.  If needed, use certified gluten-free oats for a gluten-free option.  Oats are naturally gluten-free, but some products are processed in facilities that may result in cross-contamination with products that are not gluten-free.

Dates - I use pitted Deglet Noor dates for natural sweetness, but you can use another type of date like Medjool.

Raisins - I’ve always enjoyed the flavor raisins add to vegan carrot cake muffins, so I’ve added them here too.  If you prefer to skip them, replace them with more dates for the stickiness that dried fruit adds to the energy bites.

Unsweetened Coconut - Shredded coconut adds flavor and texture to the carrot cake bites.  It’s optional to coat the bites in additional shredded coconut once they’re rolled out.

Ground Cinnamon and Ginger - Used to give the carrot cake balls more flavor.

Tips

• If your dates are not soft and mushy, soak them for 10-15 minutes, then drain and continue with the recipe.
• Measuring by weight is more accurate, but if you don’t have a scale make sure you tightly pack your half cup of dates for a more accurate measurement. 
• If your dough will not hold together, try blending it a little longer for all the ingredients to break down more and become sticky.
• If the dough still does not come together, add a tablespoon of water and blend again.  
• Check your dates for pits even if the container says pitted.  I’ve had that problem several times when adding dates to a blender or food processor.  Then you hear something hard-hitting the blades.  Even though the bag says pitted, sometimes there’s a stray pit.
• I would recommend a food processor for this recipe since most blenders will require liquid in order to blend ingredients.
• Try a cookie scooper to measure and form the no-bake bites.

How to fix bliss balls that are too sticky?

If the mixture for the carrot cake bliss balls is too sticky, try blending in more rolled oats.

How to fix the dough if it's too dry?

If the carrot cake bliss balls are too dry there are a few options.  If they are just a little dry, try adding a tablespoon of water at a time while blending.  Option 2 is adding more dates, preferably soft or soaked dates for them to work as glue.  Option 3 is to add a little nut or seed butter.

Instructions

Just rough chop your carrot, then use your food processor to chop the carrot finely.  You don’t want large chunks. 

Then add the cashews and dates to the carrots in the food processor and blend until it becomes a wet sticky dough. The dates and cashews should be finely diced from blending. 

Then add the rest of the ingredients to your food processor and blend until the dough sticks together. In the picture below, you can see the dough starts to form a clump and rolls in from the sides. You want everything to be ground up so there are no large chunks.  This process also enables your mixture to start to stick together but keep in mind that it doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth.

Then scoop out about 1 tablespoon of dough, and roll the mixture in your palms to form a ball.  Then you can roll the energy bites in unsweetened shredded coconut to make them look pretty. 

Storage

Store the carrot cake energy balls in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5-7 days or freeze them in an airtight container for up to 3 months.

Related recipes

• banana nut oatmeal cookies
• blueberry baked oatmeal cups
• whole-wheat carrot cake muffins
• vegan pumpkin muffins (oil-free)

As always, I hope you enjoy this recipe for carrot bliss balls! If you like the recipe, feel free to rate it and leave a comment.

Print

Recipe