Date & Coconut Energy Balls Recipe

ByChristie Burnett

This Date & Coconut Energy Balls Recipe is super simple to make, great for cooking with kids and perfect as a lunch box treat or after school snack.

Date and Coconut Energy Balls

Date & Coconut Energy Balls Recipe

I have been experimenting with using dates and prunes to make sweet treats lately.

Heading back to school has provided the perfect incentive to get onto it and these Date & Coconut Energy Balls get the snack time tick of approval from both the almost-6 year old and the almost-2 year old.

In fact, the girls love helping to roll these balls of fruity goodness – this energy balls recipe is so simple that it is a great one for cooking with kids!

In the recipe below you will see I have used dates as the primary fruit for this recipe. If you want to make your energy balls a little sweeter, substitute a few of the dates for prunes. Dried apricots or apple could also work as a more natural sweetener.

Date & Coconut Energy Balls

Date and Coconut Energy Balls

A great kid's lunch box snack idea, this Date and Coconut Energy Balls recipe is fun to make with kids, and the result is delicious to eat!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup pitted dates, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
  • 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
  • 2 teaspoons cacao or cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons coconut oil

Instructions

  1. Place all ingredients into your food processor or into the bowl attachment on your hand blender.
  2. Blend until all ingredients are well chopped and combined.
  3. Form into small balls and refrigerate for one hour.

Notes

  • Feel free to substitute a few prunes in place of some of the dates for a little extra sweetness.

© Christie Burnett
Cuisine: Snacks / Category: Cooking with Kids

For more delicious energy balls, check out these related recipes;

Apricot and Coconut Energy Balls Recipe
Choc Orange Energy Balls Recipe
Chocolate and fruit energy balls recipe

Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

9 Comments

  1. The comment about substituting some dates for prunes made me wonder whether there are supposed to be prunes in the recipe.

    1. You can use either, Ann. We like to use dates but as I mentioned prunes are naturally sweeter so it can be nice to add some.

  2. Yum, we made these today and they are already long gone! They were great for my super fussy eater who loved them. Such a yummy AND healthy snack. I’ll be making these again for the lunch boxes.

    1. So glad they were a hit with your family, Virginia, thank you so much for letting me know.

  3. Hi Christie
    Thanks for the recipe. We made these at school with my Kindy class. Instead rolling them into balls, we just scooped some loose mix into patty pans and called it “Gruffalo crumble”. It was a huge hit!

  4. kylie hill says:

    hi, i am wondering if one could change the dates for other dried fruit such as apricots? for different texture and taste but would still have the sweetness. thanks.

  5. Hi!!
    I just made them. Gosh are they brilliant or are they brilliant. Actually you are 🙂 amazing!! I didnt have coconut oil so had to use clear veg oil. And didnt have cacao so used the processed kind. But if the family likes it, I will invest in buying some cacao powder. I was wondering, if we could use strawberry jam instead of the oil ( to add more sweetness)? Im not sure how the dates would go with strawberries. Still thanks for an amazing recpie which works for our allergies! !

  6. I think I’ll sneak these into the lunchbox snacks. Thanks for all the great lunchbox inspiration.

Comments are closed.