If you are looking for an easy sweet treat try these healthy date balls with coconut and chocolate. They taste a bit like a samoa Girl Scout cookie and only has 4 basic ingredients. These no bake date balls are a quick and easy snack to have on hand when your sweet tooth comes calling.
You might also like these keto coconut protein balls.

Originally these were going to be a healthy samoa Girl Scout cookie but I had a hard time thinking of how to get the texture of the actual cookie part. So I took the flavors and made these quick and easy healthy date bites with coconut and chocolate.
This tasty no bake treat has the flavors of caramel, toasted coconut and dark chocolate all wrapped up in one little bite. You get the sweetness from the dates and chocolate and the chewy texture from the crispy coconut. Itโs super easy and would be the perfect snacks for an after school sweet treat too.
I don’t know about you but I like something sweet after dinner so I keep these in the freezer and just grab one after dinner. Ok and sometimes I have one or two in the afternoon with a cup a tea. Each one of healthy no bake energy balls has just 93 calories.
Recipe ingredients I used and substitutions.
The 4 simple ingredients you need to make these no bake energy bites are Mejdool dates, almond butter, shredded coconut and dark chocolate chips.
Mejdool Dates
You can find fresh dates just about at any grocery store. I know Aldi sells Mejdool dates regularly and the ones I bought today were from a bigger grocery store. Just make sure to take out the pits if they are in your dates. Mine were already pitted which was nice.
Almond Butter
You want to use a natural almond butter that has no sugar added to it. The one I bought was from Aldi and again you can find this at most grocery stores these days. You could also use substitute with cashew butter, walnut butter or even a natural peanut butter thought that might change the flavor a bit.
And if you prefer seeds over nut butter you can use sunflower seed butter or pumpkin seed butter.
Unsweetened Shredded Coconut and Chocolate Chips
You just want to make sure you are using unsweetened coconut flakes and not the sweetened kind for this recipe. As for the chocolate chips, I really like these Ghirardelli 72% cacao chocolate chips are lower in carbs and taste great.
You can use any dark chocolate chips you want or even milk chocolate if you prefer. I was trying to keep the sugar content as low as possible because dates are very sweet.
How to make these no bake healthy date balls.
Step 1: Get out a small skilled and heat to medium heat. Add the coconut and toasted it in the dry skillet. This should only take a few minutes and once it starts turning gold brown, take off the heat and set aside. (Note if you want to roll the balls in coconut at the end you should toast a bit more coconut flakes.)
I like to pour mine into a paper towel to cool off. I might continue to brown if you keep it in the hot skillet.
Step 2: Add the pitted dates to a small food processor and pulse until finely ground or chopped. Note if your Medjool dates are very hard you might want to soak them in some hot water to soften them. If you do this don’t add the water in the recipe.
Step 3: Add in the almond butter and the tablespoon of water and pulse to combine. Then add in the toasted coconut and pulse a few times to mix then spoon into a bowl.
Step 4: Fold the chocolate chips into the energy ball dough with a spoon. You could add them to the food processor to chop them up a bit but mine were real flat and seemed fine to me.
Step 5: Take a small cookie scoop or spoon and form mixture into balls with your hands. Place on a plate and place in the freezer for an hour to harden a bit. These made 8 healthy date balls for me.
You can store these coconut date energy balls in an airtight container in the freezer or refrigerator. Please scroll down to view the printable recipe card.
Note if you want to can roll the bite sized treats in more of the toasted coconut if you want.
I like to grab this delicious snack after dinner or in the afternoon if I’m craving something sweet but want it to be healthy. Plus these healthy snacks take little time to make so I make them often.
More healthy recipes using dates.
I learned about how good dates were later in life but I have quite a few recipes using dates now on the blog. Here are a few favorite recipes for you to try.
- mocha maca energy date balls
- cookie dough flavor Lara bars
- cookie dough pretzel bites
- 3 ingredient brownie bites
- olive and date rice
Well I hope you give these healthy date balls a shot. It’s such a simple but tasty recipe and great for those with a sweet tooth. I like that they have the flavors of a Samoa Girl Scout cookie to me and each one of these no bake snack bites has just 93 calories. Enjoy!
The nutritional information for 1 energy bite is 93 calories / 4.4g fat / 14.2g carbs / 2g fiber / 1g protein
Healthy Date Balls Recipe
This healthy date balls recipe is the perfect sweet treat and only takes minutes to make. With only 4 ingredients you make these for a healthy no bake snacks as a after school or dinner snack.
Ingredients
- 6 dates, no pits
- 1 ยฝ tablespoon almond butter
- 6 tablespoons shredded coconut
- 22 dark chocolate chips (about 1 ยฝ tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon of water
Instructions
- Get out a small pan and heat to medium heat. Add the shredded coconut and toast for a few minutes until the cococonut turns golden brown. Stir as it's browning. When it's mostly toasted take it off the heat and transfer to a paper towel or small plate.
- Add the pitted dates to a small food processor and blend until finely minced. Then add in the almond butter and water. Blend again until it makes a paste. Note if you have hard, dry dates you can soak them in some warm water to soften them. However don't add any extra water that the recipe calls for.
- Spoon into a small mixing bowl and fold in the chocolate chips. You can also add the chips to the food processor if you want them to be in smaller pieces.
- Using a small cookie scoop or teaspoon, take some of the batter and roll into small bite size balls and continue with all the batter. I got 9 small delicious date balls. Store them in an airtight container in the freezer or refrigerator.
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