These Cacao Chocolate Bliss Balls are a delicious, wholefood alternative to store-bought snacks. You’ll love them as a sweet treat – their delicious chocolate flavor satisfies a sweet tooth without the refined sugar! With just six ingredients found in the pantry, these cacao bliss balls are a quick and easy recipe to make. Perfect to pop into lunchboxes, you can store them in the fridge or your freezer stash so that you always have a yummy, nourishing snack on hand!
Why you’ll love these Chocolate Bliss Balls
I love these Chocolate Bliss Balls, and have been making them for years! An earlier version of this cacao bliss balls recipe is one of the first thermo cooker recipes I made, long before I had a Thermomix. My sister passed on the ingredient list about nine years ago, and I made them in a food processor. My appreciation of these chocolate energy balls has only grown over time 😁.
There are plenty of bliss ball recipes out there, but I love this one because:
- My kids do!
- It’s a wholefood-based sweet treat
- It’s simple ingredients are always in my pantry
- It’s a quick and easy no-bake snack to make
- And it’s freezer friendly
Ingredients in Chocolate Bliss Balls
This bliss ball recipe uses these basic ingredients:
Almonds – Natural/raw almonds or dry roasted will work; choose your preferred taste.
Rolled oats – Oats are a powerhouse whole grain, and their mildly nutty flavour pairs beautifully with almonds. They’re are a great ingredient to fill out bliss balls for kids.
Dates – Using dates as a natural sweetener in this recipe means there’s no need for other sweeteners like maple syrup. I use pitted dates, rather than Medjool dates, purely because I keep a stockpile in my pantry and they’re much more affordable here in Australia. You can substitute if you like. Be sure to soak pitted dates for 15 minutes in hot water before using them – this rehydrates them, and really improves the texture of the bliss balls.
Coconut – Desiccated coconut is easiest, because the balls are rolled in it to finish. You could use shredded coconut/coconut flakes and chop it in your Thermomix or food processor beforehand.
Cacao – Considered a superfood! Cacao has a delicious chocolate flavour. It’s always my personal preference to use raw cacao powder instead of cocoa or unsweetened cocoa powder but you can substitute in equal measure. Just be mindful of introducing toddlers to cacao or cocoa products [1].
Vanilla bean paste – For this recipe I use vanilla bean paste, which has a slightly stronger taste than extract, but you can substitute in equal measure if you like.
Nut-free version! Perfect for school lunchboxes!
My boy PK loves these chocolate date balls as a lunch box treat, but if your school has a nut-free policy then you can easily alter the recipe. To make nut-free bliss balls, just substitute the almonds for more oats (so 200g oats in total), and increase the water to 100g in total.
How to make Chocolate Bliss Balls
The most time consuming part of this easy snack recipe is soaking the dates! Pitted dates are much harder than Medjool dates, and so soaking really helps to rehydrate and soften them.
In a food processor, blend the dry ingredients until fine. Add the wet ingredients and blend again until the mixture comes together. You may need longer chopping/blitzing time depending on how powerful the appliance you’re using is. The Thermomix is capable of milling nuts, so if using a food processor you may find your bliss balls are a little more textured than those made with a thermo cooker. Not to worry, they’re still delicious!
Rolling tip! When rolling, the mixture sticks to your hands. Having a little water next to you and using damp hands to roll the bliss balls will help to lessen this. You get faster at rolling over time, trust me 😁.
When first made, the bliss bliss will be a little soft and warm from blitzing the ingredients. Once rolled, coat in desiccated coconut and then chill for at least an hour to firm.
Thermomixer? Blitz the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients and blitz some more. You’re then ready to roll (see the above rolling tip). Too easy!
You’ll find the recipe card below, with ingredient amounts and detailed steps for both regular and thermo cooker methods.
Bliss balls for toddlers
Bliss balls are a fantastic on-the-go snack for toddlers, but there are just a couple of things to be mindful of. Firstly, although this recipe has no refined sugar, it does contain dried fruit (dates) as a main ingredient. Dates have some fantastic qualities, as well as a high natural sugar content. That makes these bliss balls a treat and best for children over 18 months old [2].
When serving to toddlers, consider the size you roll the balls and how best to give them to your child. Mine likes to shove whole bliss balls into his mouth 😁. To avoid a potential choking hazard, I either chop them into small pieces or make them extra large and encourage biting and chewing (under supervision of course!). If going large, make them at least 2 inch/ 5cm in diameter (a little larger than the size of a golf ball). Using an ice cream or medium cookie scoop to size them out is handy.
How to store bliss balls
Best serve chilled! These Cacao Chocolate Bliss Balls can be stored in the fridge or freezer. In the fridge, they’ll keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days – in my house, they get eaten well before then though! In the freezer, they keep up to 3 months.
I LOVE freezing foods. If I’m making a great snack like this, I’ll do a double batch and freeze one. My future self thanks me when I can raid the freezer stash to pop food straight into lunch boxes. They defrost in about half an hour so are very handy to have pre-made! That’s great for me when I get a snack attack and need a little bit of a pick me up mid-afternoon 😂.
Love protein balls? Next time, try these Peanut Butter Bliss Balls. They’re made with just five ingredients including roasted peanuts in place of peanut butter, and no refined sugar. Check out these Lemon and Coconut Bliss Balls too – nut-free, and similarly easy to make and great to store.
If you try these Cacao Chocolate Bliss Balls, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you! Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest too for more treats recipes for kids.
Happy snacking!
Chloe x
Cacao Chocolate Bliss Balls
Category: SweetsTap or hover to scale
Ingredients
- 200 g pitted dates soaked (Note 1)
- 80 ml boiling water
- 80 g almonds
- 120 g rolled oats
- 20 g cacao or cocoa
- 60 g desiccated coconut for dry mixture
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 30 g extra desiccated coconut for rolling
Instructions
- In a small bowl, soak 200 g pitted dates in 80 ml boiling water for 15 minutes.
- Using a food processor, blitz 80 g almonds, 120 g rolled oats, 20 g cacao and 60 g desiccated coconut for the dry mixture until breadcrumb-like.
- Add the soaked dates, water and 1 tsp vanilla paste. Blitz again until dates are finely chopped and mixture comes together. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
- Scoop out the bliss ball mixture and roll into balls, and then roll in 30 g extra desiccated coconut. These are best when chilled for at least an hour.
Thermomix Instructions
- In a small bowl, soak 200 g pitted dates in 80 ml boiling water for 15 minutes.
- Put 80 g almonds, 120 g rolled oats, 20 g cacao and 60 g desiccated coconut for the dry mixture into the mixing bowl. Chop for 5 seconds, speed 9, MC on.
- Add the soaked dates, water and 1 tsp vanilla paste. Chop for 30 seconds, speed 9, MC on. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
- Scoop out the bliss ball mixture and roll into balls, and then roll in 30 g extra desiccated coconut. These are best when chilled for at least an hour.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
[1] Cacao (Chocolate), 2023, Solid Starts Inc.
[2] Dates, 2023, Solid Starts Inc.
5 Responses
I have had these many times and they are delicious! So easy to make and so so tasty!
Thank you Leyla!
My daughter and I made these today. I don’t have a thermomix or food processor but still found them easy to make as the recipe was simple to follow. They turned out exactly how they should, doubled the recipe so plenty to freeze. Very yummy!
That’s awesome, thanks for the feedback Leanne!
It’s so good to see that little ones can be introduced to adult fare without the side effects of too much sugar and preservatives. Well done, Chloe.