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These carrot cake bliss balls are made with fresh carrot, oats, sunflower seeds and a handful of dates, so they're nut-free for school lunchboxes and lower in sugar than most bliss balls.

Everything gets blitzed in the food processor, and rolling them is a great job for little hands (expect sticky fingers).

Top down view of a bowl of coconut covered bliss balls, one cut in half to show orange carrot centre

Table of Contents

Why These Bliss Balls Are Great For Kids

Nut-free: Sunflower seeds replace the cashews or walnuts most bliss balls use, so they can go to schools and daycares with nut-free rules.
Lower in sugar: Carrot and oats bulk them out, so there are fewer dates than in most bliss balls — about 2 g of sugar per ball.
No baking: One food processor and about 12 minutes, plus time in the fridge.
Kids can help: Rolling the balls and coating them in coconut is the fun (and messy) bit.
Makes a big batch: About 30 balls, and they freeze well.

Ingredients You Will Need

The ingredients to make carrot bliss balls laid out on a bench top with a food processor, including text overlay.

Ingredient Notes, Substitutes, & Allergy Swaps

Carrots: To be carrot bliss balls you will need carrots! You can substitute the carrots for soft baked pumpkin or baked sweet potato.
Dates: Use Medjool or regular (Deglet Noor). They're pretty similar nutritionally, but Medjool are softer and juicier, and pricey here in New Zealand, so I usually use regular dates. Regular dates are much firmer, so if your food processor isn't very sturdy, soak them in hot water for 10 minutes and drain before adding. You can also substitute the dates for raisins or sultanas.
Sunflower seeds: Sunflower seeds are economical and a nut free option for making bliss balls, alternative options are pumpkin seeds (although they can give a different colour to the final product) or your favourite nuts; cashews, almonds etc.
Rolled oats: Rolled oats can be substituted for quinoa or rice flakes.
Coconut oil: As coconut oil hardens when cooled it is the perfect oil for helping bliss balls hold together.
Gluten: These are wheat-free but not gluten-free, because they contain oats. In New Zealand, oats can't be labelled gluten-free, so for coeliac families, swap the oats for quinoa flakes.

Energy Balls For Kids

My blog is generally inspired by recipes that are suitable for kids. I get asked quite often about my thoughts on energy balls and bliss balls for kids.

I see bliss balls and energy bites everywhere, packed into lunchboxes, all over Instagram and Pinterest and now on my local supermarket's shelves.

For me, although very yummy, many energy balls and bliss balls are still packed with sugar in the form of dried fruits.

Don’t get me wrong I am not saying they are all bad, or that my kids don’t sometimes snack on energy balls and dried fruits. I am just saying that sometimes they are really high sugar items masquerading as low sugar.

Just because a bliss ball for kids has no ‘added sugar’ or 'refined sugar-free' it does not mean that the ingredients don’t contain naturally-occurring sugars. Dried fruit is quite a concentrated source of sugar and sticky too, so while my kids eat them, I am mindful about how much from both a sugar perspective and dental health perspective.

Illustrated Guide - How to Make Carrot Cake Bliss Balls

Below are illustrated step-by-step instructions to make my carrot energy bite recipe, if you prefer just the written instructions then head straight to the printable recipe card below.

Step one: Gather your ingredients, consider soaking your dates if they are very hard. I like to peel my carrots.

The ingredients to make carrot bliss balls laid out on a bench top with a food processor.

Step two: Put the carrots in the food processor on their own and blitz until very finely chopped. You want it to look almost like finely grated carrot, with no big chunks left.

A spoonful of very finely minced carrot held above a food processor of bliss ball ingredients.

Step three: Add everything else except the coconut. This takes a while, around 5 minutes. The mixture will look crumbly at first, then sticky, then it will clump into one big ball around the blade. Stop and scrape down the sides once or twice, and be patient - it will get there.

Bliss ball mixture come together as a ball in the bowl of a food processor.

Step four: Scoop out teaspoonfuls and roll into balls. The mix is sticky because of the water in the fresh carrot, so keep your hands damp and it won't cling to your fingers. Roll the balls in desiccated coconut, which makes them much easier to handle. I sometimes leave a few plain.

Three carrot bliss balls in a bowl of desiccated coconut,

Step five: Chill!

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Top Tips

Here is how you can make these bliss balls perfectly every time!

Use a sturdy food processor. A small blender will struggle, especially with regular dates.
Blitz the carrot first and finely. Big pieces of carrot make balls that fall apart.
Keep your hands damp while rolling. It's the easiest fix for sticky mixture, and a great job for the kids.
Chill before packing. They hold their shape much better in a lunchbox once they've firmed up in the fridge.
Call Them Reindeer Food - If you call them reindeer food then they are the perfect little kid snack at Christmas time!

A reindeer Christmas ornament next to a bowl of carrot energy bites.

Storage, Freezing & Making Ahead

Fridge: Keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Because they contain fresh carrot, they don't keep as long as bliss balls made only from dried fruit.
Freezer: Freeze in a container or zip-lock bag for up to 3 months. Take them straight from the freezer into the lunchbox and they'll be thawed by morning tea.
Lunchboxes: They soften at room temperature, so pack them with an ice pack on warm days.
Make-ahead: Make a double batch on the weekend and freeze half for later in the term.

A bliss ball on a counter type cut in half to show orange filling.

Serving To Babies and Toddlers

Shape: Small, round, sticky foods are a choking risk for young children making these unsuitable for babies. For toddlers, flatten the mixture into thin discs or a short log instead of balls, or squash each ball flat before serving. Always serve with your child sitting down and supervised.
Coating: Skip the desiccated coconut for the very young. It's dry and can cause gagging.
Sugar and salt: There's no added sugar or salt. The sweetness comes from the dates and carrot, so these fit fine into a toddler's snacks.

A hand with pink painted fingernails holding a carrot bliss ball above a counter top.

Carrot Cake Energy Bites

Known as Carrot oat energy bites or carrot cake bliss balls, these are a healthy no-bake nut-free energy ball for kids and a perfect healthy Christmas treat, (Reindeer Food)

Print Pin Rate

Course: Snacks

Cuisine: Kid Friendly

Keyword: bliss balls

Servings: balls

Calories: 50kcal

Author: Stacey

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4.51 from 206 votes