No Bake Almond Butter Balls
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These Almond Butter Balls are an easy healthy treat. They come together in a flash and taste great and you likely have everything you need to make them sitting in your pantry and fridge right now.
Before I was eating healthy, grabbing a box of whatever was in the kitchen or making quick bread from a boxed mix was what I turned to whenever I wanted a sweet treat.
And I used to make sugar and chocolate-laden truffles as Christmas gifts years ago. I hope to share a healthified version of those soon but decadent chocolate truffles aren't something to snack on every day.
These almond butter balls, however, are. They're basically like an energy ball, but you can also coat them in chocolate or other things like chopped nuts or coconut shreds to make a healthy truffle recipe. You and your family can indulge in these while knowing that they are really good for you and there's a great money-saving tip included as well.
And while these are very special-diet friendly, we once had friends over who don't have any dietary restrictions and they LOVED them. In fact, my dear friend's daughter can be a really picky eater and she kept calling them cookies and asking for more.
Call 'em cookies or truffles or energy balls, doesn't matter. They're good.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
These almond butter balls are:
- simple to prepare – no baking required
- flexible so you can “make do” with whatever you have in your home
- packed with nutrition from nuts or seeds, coconut, and flax
- delicious
They are so easy to make that kids can make these on their own or with only a little bit of help from adults.
Recipe Notes
- Money Saving Tip: Instead of buying coconut flour, you can simply grind shredded coconut. 3 cups coconut will yield approximately 1 1/2 cups once ground. I use my Vitamix to grind it and it works great. Ground coconut isn’t really coconut flour but it works pretty well in this recipe.
- Almond Butter Alternatives: Almond butter is wonderful in this recipe, but any nut or seed butter will work.
- Sweeteners: Any healthy sweetener can work, but if you use a liquid sweetener you should omit the water, and you may need to use a different amount of sweetener if using a liquid, so read this post for tips on substituting sweeteners. If using pre-sweetened nut or seed butters like SunButter, reduce sweetener accordingly. If using stevia extract, try using about 1/8 teaspoon.
- Note that some readers have found that these balls are too dry after following the directions. Even when I make my own nut and seed butters I have found that some batches are more dry than others. If your balls turn out too dry, simply add a light oil like avocado oil to the dough using just enough to make the dough stick together. You could try adding a non-dairy milk or water too, but that might not work as well.
Almond Butter Balls
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups coconut flour
- 3/4 cup almond butter
- 9 tablespoons low-carb sweetener
- 1/4 cup water (add more if needed)
- 3 tablespoons ground flax
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- Extra carob and/or shredded coconut for rolling
Instructions
- Add all ingredients (except sweetener, if using granulated) to a medium-size bowl.
- If using granulated sweetener, mix sweetener and water in a small saucepan. Heat over low heat until sweetener dissolves. You could also powder the sweetener to make it easier to blend.
- Mix well until all ingredients are blended.
- Add more water (non dairy milk is fine too) if needed to keep balls together).
- Roll mixture into small balls. You can also use a small stainless scoop (I love this one) for easier and less messy rolling.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may vary depending on ingredient brands, substitutions, and preparation methods. Optional ingredients are not included. Net carbs are typically calculated by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (such as erythritol) from total carbohydrates. This information should not be relied upon for medical or nutritional purposes.
These are a life-saver!!
Just found this blog and when searching for protein ball recipes and made them a couple nights ago.
I used about half the sweetener amount in the form of erythritol, and found that to be plenty sweet for my household’s taste. Yes, the dough was looking a bit dry and crumbly at first but I just added a bit more water – problem solved.
My teenager is delighted to have an easy and filling snack on hand that tastes great. He literally closed the lid on the container to prevent his father from inhaling “too many” in one go.
I’ll be making these all year!
Thank you Judy! I’m so glad! I just updated the post with information about adding water or a non dairy milk. I haven’t made these in a long time.
I bet your son would like these: https://wholenewmom.com/recipes/snickerdoodle-cookie-dough-balls/
Aha – those look great too. Will definitely give the snickerdoodle version a try as well.
I just tried these Nut Butter Balls. I followed the recipe exactly. (Although
I knew 9 T of sweetener would be too much, so I used 2 T of stevia.)
Wow, it was like trying to roll flour….impossible. I had to add about a
cup of coconut oil and water to get them to roll, and they were still dry.
I actually choked on the first one, so added more oil and water. I’m sorry
that I didn’t try a quarter of the recipe first. I wasted a lot of expensive
ingredients.
Hi there. I’m so sorry first for the delay and then for the problem you had. What I have found is that nut butters really vary in consistency, even when I make them myself. I don’t know what else you could have done but using a different oil like avocado might have worked better since coconut turns solid at room temperature. Not sure what temperature it was in your home when you tried to do that. But also water will not help since water and fat don’t mix well. Hope that helps!
I cannot find where it says how to store these so I’m assuming it’s the frigerator. I like others follow the recipe to the T and they ended up being very dry. I had to add water, and some flaxseed oil. They are still dry so I’m wondering what else could have been added. I’m thinking I will still end up eating them as snacks because the ingredients are very expensive
Hi there–sorry about that! I had another reader comment that they were dry. I’m thinking it’s the nut butter b/c I have noticed that when I make homemade nut butters the texture can be really dry at times and really moist at others. About how much oil did you add? I don’t think that adding water is the way to go. Sorry for the delay. I got buried under other things and am coming back to address comments I didn’t get to. Thanks for reading!
I tried these but they were so dry. Did I miss something? I had to add coconut oil and water and they still seem dry. Suggestions?
Hmmm…did you follow the recipe exactly? I haven’t had that problem unless my nut or seed butter was particularly dry. How was yours? Good to hear from you :)!
tried this recipe w/ coconut flour and it rolled into balls, though was a little crumbly (used honey as a sweetener) but is very very dry and sticks in the throat. great w/ Earl Grey tea! i would add more fat next time to get the texture better. i’m thinking of trying coconut oil in addition to everything else. I think ground coconut (my choice) would work better than the coconut flour, but coconut flour is what I had on hand and I wanted to follow the recipe exactly the first time.
Since the coconut flour has less fat, maybe adding fat would be the solution. I rolled mine in cinnamon, then some in nutmeg and others in allspice.
Glad to have a quick food on hand for the tired mama who doesn’t always stop to eat and make enough food for herself!
Hmmm…not sure – our worked fine. Oh – that’s it. Coconut flour absorbs TONS of liquid. 🙂
Okay, but how much granulated pure steia extract? I think 9 tablespoons is quite a bit. I also have liquid stevia if that is easier for your to convert.
Thanks! You help so many people!!!!
Stevia extract is a powder so you would only use 4-5 scoops (I think I put that in the recipe.) I tend not to use drops in my recipes as I am not as well-versed in them. Typically 1 scoop of stevia extract is equivalent to about 2 T of sweetener. I’ll put a link in the post to the powder I use. :).
Do you have a ball park figure of how many these make? Not sure if I should whip up a double batch! Thanks! Also, is that 4 tablespoons of pure stevia powder (seems like a lot). Or, do you suggest liquid stevia?
Yikes. I always forget to figure out servings. I didn’t see 4 Tbsp stevia in the recipe??? Could you tell me where you see that?
Oops, sorry, it says 9T sweetener and then add 4T water. Can you clarify this? Can I use stevia?
If it’s granulated. I would try stevia and no water. :). I have a better recipe coming….someday :).