Chai Coconut Bliss Balls (Vegan, Gluten Free, No Bake)

I was contemplating waiting until the Fall to post this recipe but then I remembered that although my affinity for chai does peak during the colder months, my love is not seasonal. I love chai all year round. PERIOD.

I spent a couple of weeks dreaming up this recipe and jotting ideas down as they came to me. Last week I finally felt like playing in the kitchen so these balls got to leave the “recipes to make” note on my iPhone and manifest themselves into the real world. And my belly.

This was actually my first attempt at bringing the sweet, spice forward, satisfying balls I dreamed of into the real world and I fully expected to have to give it a couple of tries to get it right. Despite being a big fan of bliss balls (or protein balls, or fat bombs or whatever you want to call dense, circular formations of goodness), I had actually never made them myself.

Well friends, every now and then you strike gold in recipe development land and end up creating exactly what you wanted on the first go. I ate these over a few days, each time reassessing my feelings to make sure I still loved them. And I did. I even got the nod of approval from my family members, whom I suspect are not avid bliss ball consumers. Actually, I know they are not.

What You Need to Know

Spices

As for where to purchase spices, I’m aware they can be pretty expensive. One hidden-in-plain-sight gem I have found for spices is Fruiticana. They have tons of spices, many of which are organic for super reasonable prices.

Dates

Soak your dates! It really does soften up the texture and makes them much easier to blend in with the rest of the ingredients, and safer for your food processor. I soaked mine in hot water for about 30 minutes while I prepared the other items of the recipe.

Nutrition

Healthy Fats

Meet your new best friend when it comes to plant based Omega 3 Fatty Acids; Walnuts! It can be tough to find accessible food sources of Omega 3 in adequate quantities, but walnuts are a rich source of these omegas.

Let’s not forget about chia seeds! These are also a rich source of healthy fats and yup, you guessed it – that includes Omega 3’s.

Last but not least the dried coconut will also bring in those satisfying fats. I'm not sure exactly how the drying process effects the quality of the fat in coconuts, however there is still fat present once it’s dried and it tastes delicious. For now, that’s good enough for me.

All of these wonderful fats will help keep you satisfied for longer meaning you get more bang for your buck with this snack.

What about the sugar in dates?

Good question. It’s true, dates have a lot of sugar. However, unlike processed snacks that contain little else besides refined sugars and food additives, dates are a whole food source of sugar and contain fibre, which helps to regulate blood sugar by essentially slowing the absorption of dietary sugar into the blood stream.

So in conjunction with the fibre and healthy fats you should find that these bliss balls keep you satisfied longer than just eating plain dates for example.