Dried Fruit Balls Recipe - an easy and healthy snack or dessert! (2024)

These easy dried fruit balls are a fun and healthy homemade gift you can givefor the holidays. They only take a few minutes to make and there are a lot of combinations to try with all the healthy ingredients.

You might also like these 3 ingredients brownie bites.

I’ve been making variations of these healthy dried fruit balls for years. They make an easy and healthy snack and some people call them energy balls. However today I made some with the thought to give them as a healthy homemade holiday gift.

When I first wrote this post many years ago I used colorful ingredients such as goji berries and matcha green tea powder which are also considered superfoods. However I had trouble finding some of the ingredients so I’m redoing this post with more common ingredients.

Even if you could care less about the healthy aspect of this recipe, you will still love these dried fruit bites especially if you have a sweet tooth. And as a bonus they only take a few ingredients and little time to make. Plus you can make a million flavor combinations.

Healthy recipe ingredients I used.

Today’s fruit and nut balls were made from dried apricots, dates, cranberries, pistachios, walnuts, unsweetened coconut, cocoa powder and dark chocolate.

You can really use any fruit and nut combination you want. Below you can see most of the ingredients I used.

I used Guittard cocoa powder because it’s better quality and it has a cool reddish color to it. Also I used the Lindt dark chocolate bar as it is a bit healthier than regular chocolate.

How to make dried fruit balls.

The basic ratio is 1:1 nuts to dried fruit. My go to recipe is usually for dates and walnuts. I like walnuts because they breakdown better than other nuts and dates are just very sweet. But here is the fruit and nut recipe in basic terms. Just substitute with whatever dried fruits and nuts you wish.

Step 1: You will be rolling the fruit and nut balls into a coating so if you are using different ingredients to roll the dough in, get those ready by placing chopped ingredients into small separate bowls.

By the way you make the chocolate shavings coating just by using a vegetable peeler and scraping the chocolate bar with it. You can see these coatings I used below. They are dark chocolate, chopped pistachios, shredded coconut and Guittard’s rouge cocoa powder.

Step 2: Add nuts to a food processor and pulse until it breaks down into a coarse mixture and gets sticky. You don’t want to process too much or it will turn into a nut butter.

Step 3: Place the dried fruit in the food processor along with the nut mixture and process until it becomes a dough. If the fruit you are using is too dried you can try pouring hot water over them first for a few minutes and then drain them before processing. You can also just add a teaspoon or two of water to the food processor so that it will come together more easily.

Below you can see the combinations I made which were: walnuts, dates and cocoa powder – pistachio and apricot – walnuts and coconut – cranberries and walnuts.

Step 4: Once you have the fruit and nut dough, roll them into 1- inch balls and then roll them around in the coatings. Place them on a baking sheet until you have done them all.

Step 5: Store the dried fruit bites in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer for a week or two. Please scroll down to view and print the recipe card which has the recipes for my 4 combinations but you can really use any nut and fruit combination that you like.

RecipeTips & Notes

• While these are sweet, they are not overly sweet. I would taste each dough and add a bit of sweetener if you like. For instance you can add a bit of liquid vanilla stevia to the coconut ones as both the coconut and walnut do not have a sweet taste to them.
• I mentioned that originally I used goji berries which were beautiful and interesting tasting but I could not find them so I used more common fruits like apricot and cranberries. That being said you can use any type of dried fruit you want.
• Remember if you dried fruit are too hard you can soak them for a few minutes in hot water and drain before processing. This will soften them and make the processing smoother.
• Process the nuts first. You want the consistency to be sticky and crumbly. If you go too far it will liquify and turn to a nut butter.

Below are the four of my favorite flavor combinations that I made today.

• Red – cranberries and walnuts in the middle and covered in the Guittard rouge cocoa powder.
• Green – crushed pistachios and dried apricots in the middle and covered in chopped pistachios
• White – crushed walnuts and coconut in the middle and covered in shredded coconut
• Brown – cocoa powder, walnuts and dates in the middle and the covered in dark chocolate shavings

A list of healthy ingredients to use for these energy balls.

Here is a good list of all the different ingredients you can try to make these energy balls.

• nuts – walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, pistachios, hazelnuts
• seeds – sesame seed, pepitas, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds
• dry fruits – dates, figs, cranberries, apricots, prunes raisons, peaches, mango, pineapple, cherries, açaí berries, goji berries
• misc ingredients – coconut flakes, unsweetened cocoa powder, cacao nibs, cacao powder, coconut sugar, dark chocolate, matcha green tea, coffee, protein powders, nut butters, stevia, flavor extracts, mini chocolate chips (low sugar)

Well I hope this gives you a little inspiration to make these tasty dried fruit energy balls. I usually keep mine in the freezer for a quick snack but they would also make a pretty and easy homemade gift. Enjoy!

Easy Dried Fruit Bites Recipe

Yield: 16

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

These fruit & nut energy balls are a fun and healthy gift you can give your family. Only a few minutes to make with natural ingredients and lots of flavor combinations to try. These healthy energy balls can be an easy and healthy snack too!

Ingredients

Brown fruit bites

• ¼ cup dates
• ¼ cup walnuts
• 1 tablespoons Guittard cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons of dark chocolate bar shavings (to roll in)

Red fruit bites

• ¼ cup dried cranberries
• ¼ cup walnuts
• 2 tablespoons Guittard cocoa powder (to roll in)

White coconut bites

• ¼ shredded unsweetened coconut
• ¼ cup walnuts
• 2 tablespoons shredded coconut (to roll in)
• liquid stevia to taste (optional)

Green fruit bites

• ¼ cup pistachios
• ¼ cup dried apricots
• 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios (to roll in)

Instructions

1. Brown fruit bites:
2. If the dates are hard, take and soak them in hot water for about 5 minutes until soft. In the meantime take ¼ cup of walnuts and add to a food processor.Process until the walnuts are fine and sticky.
3. Add 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder and pulse to mix.
4. Drain the dates and add to the food processor and pulse until a sticky dough forms.
5. Make balls out of the dough and roll in the extra cocoa powder and refrigerate.
6. Green fruit bites
7. If the apricots are hard, take and soak them in hot water for about 5 minutes until soft. In the meantime take ¼ cup of pistachios and add to a food processor.Process until the pistachios are ground and a bit sticky.
8. Drain the apricots and add to the food processor and pulse until a sticky dough forms.
9. In a small bowl add the additional chopped pistachios.
10. Make balls out of the dough and roll in the additona chopped pistachios and refrigerate.
11. White coconut bites
12. Add 2 tablespoons of coconut flakes and process in a food processor. Dump into a bowl and set aside for rolling in.
13. Add the ¼ cup coconut to the food processor and grind until fine.
14. Add ¼ cup walnuts and liquid stevia (optional) and process until a crumbly dough forms. If it seems too crumbly to form into balls, add a teaspoon of water.
15. Form into balls and roll in the excess coconut flakes. Refrigerate when done.
16. Red fruit bites
17. If the cranberries are hard, take and soak them in hot water for about 5 minutes until soft.
18. In the meantime take ¼ cup of walnuts and add to a food processor. Process until the walnuts are fine and sticky.
19. Drain the cranberries and add to the food processor and pulse until a sticky dough forms.
20. Make balls out of the dough and roll in cocoa powder and refrigerate.
21. ***Please Note*** Taste each dough and add addition sweetener or sugar if would like a sweeter product. The dates are pretty sweet but to some they may not be sweet enough.
22. These recipes make 4 dried fruit balls each for a total of 16.

Notes

• While these are sweet, they are not overly sweet. I would taste each dough and add a bit of sweetener if you like. For instance you can add a bit of liquid vanilla stevia to the coconut ones as both the coconut and walnut do not have a sweet taste to them.
• You can use any type of dried fruit and nut combination you want. There are suggestions in the post.
• Process the nuts first. You want the consistency to be sticky and crumbly. If you go too far it will liquify and turn to a nut butter.
• Remember if the dried fruit is too hard, soak them for a few minutes in hot water and drain before processing. This will soften them and make the processing smoother.

The estimated nutritional values are as follows:

1 Brown energy ball - 63 calories / 4.7g fat / 5.4g carbs / 1.3g fiber / 1.3g protein
1 Red energy ball - 73 calories / 4.6g fat / 8.1g carbs / 1.5g fiber / 1.5g protein
1 Green energy ball - 77 calories / 4.7g fat / 9.5g carbs / 1.5g fiber / 2.2g protein
1 White energy ball - 44 calories / 7.1g fat / 2.2g carbs / 1.1g fiber / 1.3g protein

See Also

This recipe will change your mind about meatloaf.Hungarian Kiffles RecipeA Versatile No-Yeast Flatbread RecipeVegan Cannoli Recipe - Gretchen's Vegan Bakery

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 16Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 77Unsaturated Fat: 0g

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