If you're in the mood for carrot cake, but not for baking, then these No-Bake Carrot Cake Bites are absolutely perfect. Not only are they vegan and refined-sugar-free, but they're also delicious. Bet you can't eat just one!
These carrot cake bites require no baking, no sugar, and no fuss. You just assemble six ingredients, pulse them in the food processor,
and then roll them in coconut. Boom! Done! Each bite is sweetened by the dates, gets an earthy richness from the pecans and walnuts, and a little kick from the allspice and cinnamon.
Bliss balls are perfect for a lower-sugar dessert, holiday brunch, or lunchbox treat. Or store them in the refrigerator for quick snacks throughout the day--because even though they're scrumptious cake bites, they're also full of whole food ingredients. That's a magical combination if ever there was one!
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You'll love this carrot cake bite recipe because it's:
- Simple
- Quick & Easy
- Made with just 7 i
ngredients - WFPB & Refined-Sugar-Free
- Requires no baking
- Absolutely delicious!
Ingredient notes
- Baby Carrots (peeled and washed): These are the star of the show. I use baby carrots, so no washing or peeling is necessary, but if you want to use regular carrots, wash and peel them first.
- Dried, pitted dates: This is where the sweetness comes from. A word of advice, make sure there are no pits because they can damage your food processor blade!
- Walnuts and Pecans: For a protein and flavor boost.
- Cinnamon and Allspice: These spices really add depth and complexity to the flavor!
- Coconut flakes: For rolling and an extra touch of sweetness
Substitutions
One of the things I love about this recipe is how versatile it is. So if you don't have all of these ingredients, if you have special dietary need/food allergies, or you just don't like one of the ingredients, don't fear! I've talked to a lot of readers about substitutions. Here are a few I can recommend:
- If you don't have both walnuts and pecans, you can just use one or the other (just double the amount).
- If you are allergic to nuts, you can try this recipe using sunflower seeds or a combination of sunflower seeds and rolled oats.
- Don't have dates? Just use raisins.
- Don't like or don't have coconut? You can roll these carrot cake bites in hemp hearts, cinnamon, crushed nuts, cocoa powder, powdered sugar . . . or nothing at all!
If you have a question or you've tried a substitution not listed above, let me know in the comments!
Variations
Want more Bliss Ball recipes? Then be sure to try:
Instructions
Here are step-by-step instructions with photos.
Add everything (except the coconut) into the food processor and pulse until a slightly damp dough forms.
Place into oven at 350 fahrenheit
Roll the dough into balls. Spread the coconut onto a plate and roll the balls in the coconut to coat them.
Although you can eat the carrot cake balls right away, they get denser if you place them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1 hour before serving.
Hint: To make the process go faster, set up an assembly line. Roll the ball, then roll it in the coconut, then add it to a container.
Equipment
For this recipe, you'll need a food processor or a high-quality high-speed blender.All of my favorite products and kitchen tools can be found in my Amazon shop.
How to serve
Even though you can eat these carrot cake bites right away, I recommend chilling for at least an hour before eating, as they will be denser and the flavors will be more pronounced.
Serve on a platter as part of an Easter brunch or dessert spread, or keep these in the fridge for a quick snack throughout the week. These little bites would make the perfect addition to a healthy lunch box. You could even eat them for breakfast! Who says you can't have dessert in the AM?
How to store
You can store these carrot cake bites in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. I haven't tried freezing the carrot cake bites, but I'm sure it can be done. My only concern would be that the exterior moisture during thawing could impact the color and texture of the coconut. If you try it, let me know in the comments, and I'll update the post.
FAQs
If you have a high-quality high-speed blender, then you should be fine. I wouldn't use a small smoothie-type blender or hand blender, as it would take a lot of effort to get the nuts and dates broken up.
Some people would call them Carrot Cake Energy Balls, other people call them Bliss Balls, and still others might say Protein Balls. All of those names are fine, but I prefer to think of them as cake bites because, well, CAKE. Whoever said you can't have your cake and eat it too, never tried these heavenly bites.
More vegan dessert recipes
📖 Recipe
Carrot Cake Bites
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
- Add the baby carrots, dates, walnuts, pecans, cinnamon, and allspice to the food processor and run on high for several minutes, stopping a few times to scrape down the sides, until the ingredients and fully combined and have formed a damp dough.
- Taking about 2 tbps of the dough at a time, roll the dough into balls. To do this, place the dough in the palm of one hand, and then close your other hand over the dough so that you can use the palms of both hands to gently shape the dough into balls. The balls should be about the size of a large chesnut (a little smaller than a golfball).
- Pour the coconut onto a plate. Roll the balls in the coconut, making sure to coat all the sides. Use the palms of your hands to reshape the ball, and then roll in the coconut again.
- The carrot cake bites can be eaten right away, but they are denser if you chill in the refrigerator for an hour before serving. Enjoy!
Notes
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.
- If you're not a fan of coconut, substitute cocoa powder, powdered sugar, or crushed nuts.
- If your dried dates are hard, you can soak in warm water for ten minutes to soften them up. Just be sure to drain off the water and pat them dry before adding to the food processor.
- If you don't have dried dates on hand, you can substitute with raisins.
Nutrition
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Diana says
The Carrot Bites are absolutely delicious! I didn’t have dates but prunes worked really well.
Julianne Lynch says
Thanks, Diana! They are delicious and versatile. I'm so glad you liked them!
Jude says
I don't have a food processor. Will a Vitamix do the trick?
Julianne Lynch says
Hi Jude! I have actually never used a Vitamix (Blasphemy!), but I think it could work--you'd just want to be really careful not to over blend. So maybe do the ingredients in batches (carrots, then nuts and spices, then dates) and then do a quick blend of all together. Or maybe you could even mix them together by hand at the end. You just don't want the mixture to turn into pure mush since you won't be baking them. Thanks for the question and please let me know how they turn out!
Lisa says
These are soon good! So easy to make and just the right balance of sweetness and texture. I happened to have all the ingredients, from farmer's markets and even coconut from Maui. Relish! I work with blind and visually impaired and I think this recipe would be a good one for a cooking class because it's so tactile and simple to measure the ingredients.
Julianne Lynch says
Wow! Thanks so much. I'm glad you liked it, and I'm honored that you would think of sharing this with the people you work with!
Brandy says
Sounds good!
I’m not sure how to measure 1 cup of carrots. Do to dice them up and measure 1 cup?
Julianne Lynch says
It depends. You can use regular carrots and roughly chop them. Or you could use baby carrots and just stand them up the in measuring cup. This is an older recipe and a good reminder to me to get a weight measurement into the recipe card. Thanks for your interest!
Jon says
Tried this out yesterday and there are a very yummy vegan snack. Accidently used the chopping blade instead of the dough blade (first time using a food processor) so it came out a big chunky. Can't wait to try it more doughy.
Julianne Lynch says
I'm so glad you liked it even though it was chunky!
Kerry DuPont says
I made these for my Daniel Fast and these were amazing!! I toasted the nuts a bit but otherwise made no changes. I want to see if I can get some crushed pineapple (well drained) in and see how that is. Excited by this!
Julianne Lynch says
Great! I'm so glad you liked it! I've never tried it with pineapple, but it sounds like it would be good!