Healthy Carrot Cake Bites

Wholesome no-bake carrot cake bites made with oats, apricots (no dates), and carrots.

For me, nothing quite beats delicious energy balls when craving a quick and healthy snack. An incredible source of fiber, full of protein, pleasantly sweet, highly versatile, and oh what a joy for your taste buds!

How about switching it up a bit? This recipe includes grated carrots to elevate our energy bites’ juiciness while providing a compelling and unmatched combination of flavors! An especially wonderful treat to add to your next Easter celebration….or any other day of the year, of course. 😉

Ingredients

Here’s a glimpse at the ingredients used to create these healthy carrot cake balls:

• Carrots: The recipe weight refers to the net weight, no skin included.

• Soft-dried apricots: I’ve used soft-dried apricots (unsweetened) for this recipe, as they are juicier and easier to process. Compared to regular dried apricots, a gentle steaming method is added when processing these apricots, making them juicier. They are slightly more challenging to find, but Trader Joe’s carries them, and I am certain most health food stores stock them as well. If, however, you are unable to find them in any of your local grocery stores, grab regular dried apricots instead. Just make sure to buy them unsweetened and, if time allows, place them in boiling water for approximately 10 minutes to steep and “bulk” up (rehydrate) a bit.

• Oats: Whether you choose old fashioned, steel-cut, or quick oats really doesn’t matter in this case, since we will toss them into the food processor anyway.

• Almonds: I’ve selected natural almond flour for this recipe. By doing so, you can still achieve a smooth, velvety consistency even without using restaurant-grade kitchen utensils. ;) I would suggest, however, making sure you use natural almond flour rather than flour made from blanched almonds. Alternatively, and especially if you already have them in your pantry, you may use whole almonds as well. Put that food processor to work and see what it’s made of. 😉

• Almond butter: Adds another layer of moisture and creates a texture that helps you shape your energy bites more easily. Although regular almond butter (unsweetened) works just as well, I have chosen blanched almond butter, as I feel it complements our flavor profile more effectively.

Additional tips and tricks

Even though the carrot energy balls recipe is super simple in itself, here are a few more tips to ensure your re-creation is super successful:

• Make sure to grate the carrots very finely by using the small cutting side of your grater. Consequently, the flavors will be more evenly distributed, resulting in deliciously juicy energy bites.

• Depending on how you prefer the energy balls’ texture, pulse the ingredients for a shorter (coarser, chunkier texture) or longer (finer consistency) period of time.  This is what my batch looked like:

• Adding water to the mix will help you control and steer the consistency in the desired direction. It’s advisable to add water a little at a time until the mixture can be easily formed into balls.

• The exact size of your bites is, of course, totally up to you. In my case, I was able to shape about 16 balls of 20g each using this recipe.

• In theory, you may omit the coconut flakes. Might be an excellent idea if you plan on chowing down in the car and don’t want to make too much of a mess. 😉 Other than that, I would highly recommend incorporating them, as it enhances the energy bites’ visual appeal while adding another beautiful (and crunchy) layer of flavor, thus enhancing their overall delicious taste.

• If you are having trouble holding back, feel free to devour the bites straight away. I would, however, suggest letting them rest and fully develop their delightful flavors in the fridge overnight, or at least for a few hours. You’ll thank me later, and the wait will be worth it. 😉

• The energy balls may be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days. If necessary, you can freeze them as well.