These Bliss Balls are inspired by three of my favorite Girl Scout Cookies: Caramel deLites, Lemonades, and Thin Mints. You just need a food processor and a handful of simple ingredients for a delicious, vegan, WFPB version of these nostalgic treats!
Add the first ingredient (1 cup of walnuts, cashews, or almonds) to the food processor. Blend until a coarse meal forms. (10 to 30 seconds).
Add 1 cup of pitted dates. Blend 30 to 60 seconds, until the dates are evenly chopped and loosely incorporated with the nuts.
Add all of the other ingredients for that bliss ball flavor *except optional ingredients for rolling.* Blend until everything is loosely incorporated. (In the case of the lemon bliss balls, a more solid dough will form.)
Take about 1.5 teaspoons of the dough in your hands and roll it between your palms until a smooth ball forms (see video above as reference.) Repeat until all of the dough has been used. You will have 12 to 16 bliss balls.
Optional step: Add ⅓ cup desiccated coconut, hemp seeds, or crushed nuts to a plate. Lightly roll each ball in the rolling ingredient until the bliss ball is covered.
You can serve right away, but the flavor and denisty improves after 1 hour in the refrigerator.
For the Thin Mint Bliss Balls, each brand of peppermint extract will have a different level of intensity. The first time you make them, start with a few drops and then add a few more as needed. I use about 7 drops, or a little over ¼ teaspoon. Keep in mind that the flavor will deepen somewhat after the bliss balls have been in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
For the Lemon Bliss Balls, I use a Microplane to grate the lemon zest, but you can also use a regular box grater. The trick to grating lemon zest is that you just want to lightly grate off the yellow outer layer of the peel. 1 large lemon will give you the right amount of zest for this recipe.