Home » Carrot Cake Bliss Balls – Nut Free and Delicious

Carrot Cake Bliss Balls – Nut Free and Delicious

Nut free and packed with flavour, these freezer friendly Carrot Cake Bliss Balls are a wonderful lunchbox addition or grab and go snack. You’ll love the flavours of this simple recipe. It’s a wholesome blend of carrots, oats, dates and has delicious flavours of cinnamon and orange. This no bake recipe comes together in no time in a food processor. This recipe was first published in January 2019 and has been updated in April 2020 with new photography, adding weight measurements to the recipe and updated helpful information.

These Nut Free Carrot Cake Bliss Balls are a must make. Moist (I know, I know but how else can I describe them?) and so flavourful thanks to the sweet spice of the cinnamon and zesty orange. Honest to God I swear I am eating carrot cake when I eat these beauties.

These Carrot Cake Bliss Balls are nut free, so they make a perfect fibre fuelled, added vegetable snack for daycare lunches and back to school lunches. They are also pretty handy to have at home as a grab and go snack.

These Carrot Oat Bliss Balls come together really quickly. This is a no bake recipe – hurrah! – though I do like to toast the oats and sunflower seeds in the oven first. I am trying to achieve a warmer, nuttier flavour by toasting the seeds and oats, however this is totally optional and you can just pop everything in the food processor to speed up the recipe.

Nut Free Carrot Cake Bliss Balls

You Will Need

This carrot and oat bliss ball recipe uses readily available pantry and produce staples. You will find the quantity information in the recipe card.

  • Carrots – are a fantastic source of beta carotene that your body converts to Vitamin A. This vitamin promotes good vision. Carrots are also a reasonably good source of fibre.
  • Rolled Oats – a pantry staple that I always have on hand. You can make these carrot oat bliss balls gluten free by obtaining certified gluten free oats. You could also use nuts like almonds or cashews to replace the oats but I have not tried this variation not would this be appropriate for many school lunchboxes.
  • Sunflower Seeds – high in Vitamin E and packed with many minerals these tiny seeds are a good source of protein and healthy fats. You can substitute with pepitas or extra oats or coconut
  • Pitted Medjool Dates – these dates have a caramel-like flavour and are softer and more moist than other dates. You could use other dates however you may wish to soak these in hot water for 5 minutes then drain before using to soften them. You may also want to use a few more dates as Medjool Dates are typically larger.
  • Raisins – or Sultanas can be used in this recipe. Raisins are dried grapes and are packed with energy, have a good amount of fibre and assist with digestion. You could substitute with more dates instead of raisins or sultanas.
  • Cinnamon – a cosy spice that adds flavour, light heat and brings out the sweetness of these bliss balls.
  • Orange Zest and Juice – you could omit this from the recipe but I would recommend you don’t! The orange adds such a delicious flavour to this recipe. 
  • Desiccated Coconut – used for rolling and sealing the Carrot Cake Bliss Balls this is finely ground dried coconut and normally found in the baking section.

picture of carrot oat bliss ball with bite removed

To Make the Carrot Cake Bliss Balls

In a food processor with the S Blade attached, add in all of your ingredients and blitz until the Carrot Cake Bliss Balls mixture is well combined and quite smooth. Depending on your food processor this will take a couple of minutes. 

Spoon the combined mixture and roll into balls, rolling in desiccated coconut to seal as you go. Repeat until all of the mixture is used.

process shots making carrot oat bliss bites

Freezing the Carrot Cake Bliss Balls

This recipe freezes really well. Once you have rolled them, pop them into a container, trying to keep the balls slightly separated. You can freeze the bliss balls in layers separated with baking paper. You can also store the bliss balls in the fridge for a couple of days.

To defrost, either defrost in the fridge overnight or you can defrost at room temperature too, they will defrost in around 30 minutes.

How Your Kids Can Help You

My kids love to help make bliss balls and they are a really easy recipe for kids to help with.

Young children can add the prepared ingredients to the food processor and of course helped turn it on – totally the best bit. They can also assist with rolling the balls in the coconut. 

Older kids can practice more ‘dangerous’ kitchen activities such as removing the pits (or stones if you prefer) from the dates with a knife or peeling grating the carrots. They can also help measure the ingredients.

Bowl of carrot oat balls

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Carrot Cake Bliss Balls – Nut Free and Delicious

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 3 reviews
  • Author: Bernadette - Goodie Goodie Lunchbox
  • Prep Time: 10
  • Total Time: 10 minutes
  • Yield: 15 bliss balls 1x

Description

These delicious nut free Carrot Cake Bliss Balls are moist and delicious and perfect to make for school lunches. These are also dairy free and freeze well.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup (90g) rolled oats lightly toasted if desired
  • 1/2 cup (60g) sunflower seeds lightly toasted if desired
  • 6 (around 75g) pitted Medjool dates
  • 150g (around 2 medium size) peeled grated carrots
  • 1/4 (around 40g) cup rasins
  • 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • Zest of 1/4 of an orange
  • Juice of 1/4 of an orange
  • Desiccated coconut (for rolling)

Instructions

  1. Add all the ingredients into a food processor with the s-blade attachment.
  2. Process on high for around three minutes or until well combined and the ingredients are chopped quite finely.
  3. Scoop a tablespoon of the mixture and roll to make a ball in between your hands.
  4. Roll the ball lightly in the coconut to coat then roll again in your hands so that the coconut sticks to the ball. Repeat to make 15 bliss balls.
  5. Store the bliss balls in the fridge in an airtight container. These bliss balls also freeze well.

Notes

To toast the sunflower seeds and oats, spread out on tray and bake at around 200c for around 4 minutes, stirring every two minutes so they do not burn.

I hope you all love these Carrot Cake Bliss Balls and your kids enjoy them in their school lunches! Remember to subscribe to the blog to get my free lunchbox planner and an extensive list of ideas for what to pack in school lunches and all my recipes straight to your inbox! Also please rate this recipe if you love them, it helps others find my recipes. And lastly, remember to share your creations with me on Instagram or Facebook – I love to connect with you!

Happy snacking,
Bernadette x

Nut Free Carrot Cake Bliss Balls

24 Comments

  1. Thanks for sharing! Do they freeze well?

  2. These bliss balls are delicious. I really appreciate how easy they are to make (so easy in fact that my 4 year old made these almost all by himself). Made with ingredients I usually have on hand which made it a great little last minute activity to entertain my son. We have popped this batch into the freezer ready to grab and go for lunchboxes. They are definitely a hit in our household, I have lost count at the amount of times my son has asked for a bliss ball this afternoon (he ate half of the mixture while he was rolling them, I’m actually surprised that any made it to the freezer).






  3. Hi Bernadette,
    I made these today and they were a huge hit ! I didn’t soak the dates but they still worked a treat!






    • Yay! So glad you loved them 🙂 they freeze well so always on my baking/making list to prep for school lunches x

  4. I saw this on Instagram and I just had to make it. So good!!!!!






  5. Hi, our lunchbox goodies need to be nut and seed free – what could I substitute for the sunflower seeds? Just add extra oats? Thank you!

    • Bernadette

      I would just replace the sunflower seeds with oats! Hope these are a much loved lunchbox goodie, Bernadette x

  6. Hi Bernadette

    I have a lil man who is severely allergic to coconut and nuts (!) – any suggestions on a substitute for rolling these in?
    Many thanks!

    • You could try chia seeds, thanks Bernadette x

      • Hi Bernadette,

        I’m guessing this recipe uses fresh dates but wondered if you know if dried dates would work?

        Many thanks,

        • Bernadette

          It does, but you could use dried dates too. Soak them in boiling water for 5 minutes first then drain the water from the dates to soften them. Thanks Bernadette x

  7. Hi,
    Just wondering if these can be frozen?

    Thanks

    • I haven’t tried with these ones. I would be concerned that the raw carrot might absorb too much moisture. If I do test this I will let you know! Bernadette x

  8. Just made these and they were a huge hit with the family, thank you. I have some leftover and was wondering if I can store them in the freezer?

    Thanks.

    • I haven’t actually tested freezing them. I have had them in the fridge for a couple of days, but I wasn’t sure how well the raw carrot would go in the freezer. Bernadette x

    • Hi Jess, so I tested last night and the bliss ball froze and defrosted perfectly. Thanks Bernadette x

  9. Hello, Rolled oats are gluten free by ingredient butNOT safe for anyone with coeliac disease as they are processed in factories that also process gluten. All oats have a ‘may contain gluten ‘statement, but you can substitute them with rice porridge which is just as good.

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