I was recently staying at a house with a beautiful garden full of fresh lavender flowers. I often make fruit and nut energy balls, sometimes with cacao and other times with fruit and honey.
This time I decided to experiment and use some fresh lavender flowers as you would use orange blossom or rose petal essence, to infuse ingredients with some floral aroma and a lingering hint of summer garden. It worked well with a very subtle lavender flavour coming through and making these tasty balls just a little fancy.
These bliss balls are a great snack for kids and active adults, or if you simply need something to add to the lunch boxes. Containing no processed sugar or even honey, the balls are sweetened with dried apricots, coconut and nuts. These are tasty but without being overly sweet. They’re full of healthy fats from coconut oil and nuts, a bit of protein and carbs to keep you going.
Recipe Notes
You can use almond or hazelnut meal or grind a mix of different nuts. Coconut oil and chopped dried apricots is what makes the mixture sticky, so you need those or another type of dried fruit like dates or figs.
I used the violet tips of the fresh lavender flowers but you can easily use a few drops of lavender essence or dried lavender. It’s really there to add a twist of flavour rather than being the primary ingredient.
Keep them refrigerated and they will last for up to 5 days. You can make them as small or as big as you like, and of course, you can make a bigger batch.
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Ingredients
- 200 g almond meal about 1 cup
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil solid form
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or seeds
- 3 lavender flowers violet tips chopped (about 1 tablespoon)
- 12 dried apricots finely chopped
- 1/4 cup almonds chopped
- 2 tablespoons desiccated coconut + more to dust with
Instructions
- Use an electric mixer or a food processor, combine and incorporate almond meal, coconut oil, vanilla and lavender flowers. The mix will become crumbly. Add chopped apricots and almonds and mix with your hands. Add 2 tablespoons of water and mix the mixture until it's sticky and slightly wet. It should hold well together.
- Spread extra desiccated coconut on a chopping board, enough to coat the balls in. Using your hands, shape the mixture into small balls (walnut-sized) and roll them in coconut until totally coated. Refrigerate for an hour before eating.
Nutrition
Even if I kept them in the fridge, I don’t think these would last one day, let alone 5 in my house….. in fact, I can’t see 12 balls lasting an hour!
With 4 kids they really would disappear that fast!
I am so glad I found your website! I just started eating Paleo (doing a whole30 right now) and am constantly looking for new recipes I can try and I found so many here that look totally delicious! I hope your book is also available through one of the online stores here in Europe, so will be checking that out! Thanks for all the inspiration!
Hi Simone,
You can order my book from my website directly. I actually ship from Germany. http://eatdrinkpaleo.com.au/eat-drink-paleo-cookbook/
Alternatively, you can look for it on Amazon.com.
Lovely! Being a Whole30 alumnus, I’m so happy when I see no-sugar snacks. Thanks for posting!
can i substitute the almond meal for coconut flour?
You should be able to but use a very small amount as coconut flour likes to absorb a lot of moisture and might make the balls a little dry.
I usually buy energy balls, but the raspberry coconut look right up my alley! Thanks for the roundup