I am always trying different flavours of bliss balls, as well as experimenting with ones that contain nuts and ones that are nut-free so that Mark can take them to school. Recently, Mum and Dad came to visit and brought with them a big bag of lemons, so I needed to use them up, which is where these Lemon and Coconut Bliss Balls came into play.
Ordinarily, I would have made these with cashews or almonds, or a combination of the two, but in this case, I wanted these balls to be lunchbox friendly, so I made them with seeds rather than the nuts, which in my opinion, are not as delicious. The nuts seems to add a more smooth and creamy texture than the seeds.
The flavour combination of lemon and coconut is reminiscent of my childhood – the good old lemon and coconut slice, which, to be honest, one of my favourite parts of this slice being made was licking the condensed milk tin! Delicious! I will still happily enjoy a piece of lemon slice if I come across one, but it is nice to be able to create similar flavours in a way that is much more nutritious for both adults and kids.
Enjoy xx.
Ingredients:
Make ~25 balls
- 2/3 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/3 cup chia seeds
- 2/3 cup shredded coconut, toasted
- 12 medjool dates, pitted
- 1 tbs coconut oil
- 1 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract) or 1 tsp vanilla protein powder
- 1/3 cup desiccated coconut, for rolling
Method:
- Place oats, seeds and toasted coconut into the bowl of a food processor and blitz until resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Remove from bowl and set aside.
- Place dates into food processor and blitz on high until dates break up and then come back together to form a ball.
- Place the oats and seeds mix in with the dates and add the coconut oil and lemon zest and blitz on high to break up the ball of dates.
- Add the vanilla and lemon juice and blitz again until the mixture comes together and forms a large ball.
- Place mixture into a medium sized bowl and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, place desiccated coconut into a small frypan and toast over medium heat until it turns golden brown. This happens quickly, so keep an eye on it.
- Remove the mixture from the fridge and take a heaped teaspoon of the mixture, roll into a ball and roll in the coconut. Repeat with remaining mixture.
- Refrigerate for up to 1 week or freeze for 2-3 months (they won’t last that long)!
I’ve always wanted to make these, they look so good!
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They are delicious! I hope you enjoy them.
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