Chocolate Chip Bliss Balls (vegan, gluten free, oil free, nut free, seed free)
Mar 19, 2019 • Updated Jun 20, 2023
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This is a simple little recipe I used to make when I still lived at home with my family. My youngest sister is allergic to nuts and I wanted to make her a bliss ball recipe (she’s got a crazy sweet tooth too—must run in the family!) but alas, most bliss ball recipes are nut based. No really, most bliss balls recipes are made of simply nuts, dates and sometimes coconut or oats. So my mission was to make a bliss ball completely nut free and I basically removed the nuts, kept the rest and played with the ratios of ingredients a little bit. Enter 3 ingredient Chocolate Chip Bliss Balls (nut free)!
These bliss balls (or bliss buddies as I’m calling them, once eyeballs are applied) are:
Vegan
Gluten free
Oil free
Refined sugar free
Low fat
Nut free
Kid approved
Meal prep friendly
& easy peasy to make
All you need are 3 main ingredients: medjool dates, rolled oats, and cacao nibs or chocolate chips. It may sound too simple to be true, but the first time I made it I realized I was essentially making rawnola (raw granola) rolled into balls, one of my old staple recipes. Optional, but great additions to this recipe are a little bit of vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, a dash of mesquite powder to enhance with a bit of a malty flavour and if needed, a little coconut oil to help things get blendy blendy.
My only two tips to you is to 1) make sure your dates are soft. Keeping them at room temp is helpful so they’re less firm when blending, and if they’re really hard, consider soaking them beforehand to rehydrate them a little bit. You’ll get the best results with gooey plump medjool dates.
Tip 2) always start with less and add more as needed. You’re better off with a stickier mixture that you can fix by adding more oats to, versus a dry mixture when you’ve run out of dates. It’s also much easier to continue to pulse in the blender by adding dry ingredients versus extra dates later on.
Also, adding eyeballs will always make a snack more fun and kid friendly so… if you want to turn your bliss balls into bliss buddies, grab your edible eyeballs and glue on with some sticky date centert! 🙂
The rest is really straightforward and hard to mess up, so let’s get right into it!
Chocolate Chip Bliss Balls (vegan, gluten free, oil free, nut free)
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats*
- 10-12 soft medjool dates
- 2-3 tbsp cacao nibs or chocolate chips
- optional
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- if needed coconut oil or seed butter to bind
Instructions
- Before beginning, make sure medjool dates are soft and workable. Letting dates sit out at room temp will help. If your dates feel dry, consider soaking dates in hot water for half an hour or so. Before using, drain well.
- In a food processor, combine rolled oats (add this ingredient first!), pitted dates and vanilla and salt if using. Pulse until a dough begins to form and ingredients begin to break down and stick together.
- Sprinkle in cacao nibs or chocolate chips and pulse 2-3 times to distribute evenly.
- Transfer mixture to a bowl and roll tablespoons of dough into small balls.
Notes
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love & bliss buddies,
Looking for more bliss ball recipes? Try these Matcha Quinoa Bliss Balls, Lemon Turmeric Bliss Balls or Chocolate Gingerbread Bliss Balls.
