Or macaroons. Or dough bites. Or balls. Whatever. The variety of names for these treats is endless.
They are essentially coconut and chia seeds held together by a little bit of liquid and nut butter. So very simple. I’m not claiming I invented them or anything – I’m sure there’s a version of these on many other blogs out there. But here’s what went into mine.
Coconut holes
[vegan, gluten free, soy free, FODMAPs free – makes 9 golf ball sized holes]
- 1 cup + 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 tbsp almond butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup almond milk + 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1/4 cup water + 1 tbsp chia seeds
- pinch salt
Combine chia seeds with almond milk and water. Stir and let them gel. Pulse everything but 1/2 cup shredded coconut in the food processor until it’s all mixed and uniformly batter-like (but not yet butter!). Then add the remaining portion of coconut and mix by hand.
Rolling dough between your palms, form into balls. Place on greased pan or parchment paper.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
You could easily use 1/2 cup almond milk (replacing the water portion of the liquid) or you could swap in coconut or soy milk. Whatever you want.
You could also use whatever nut butter you prefer. I’m sure peanut butter would be delicious, as would sunflower seed butter. I just happened to have a freshly made batch of almond butter on hand.
I wish I had doubled this batch because these little holes went faaaaaast.
So soft and coconutty, with just a hint of nutty vanilla flavor and a delightful amount of sweetness. Dessert or snack material for sure.
And just look at the gorgeous bronze they got in the oven! Like they just got back from spring break in Cabo. 🙂
i love your balls. Nutty!
😉
I can’t WAIT to make these!!! I’ve been experimenting with different types of cookies lately – raw, vegan, standard… This looks like a great one to try!
Those look sooooo good! I can’t wait to try them. Thanks for the recipe!
I love all things coconut – it’s a recent obsession!
I’ve been obsessed with all things baked goods lately. can’t wait to try this recipe. Thanks!
How do you make you homemade almond butter, I can never seem to get the almonds to turn to butter without adding some additional oil to the process unlike other nuts like walnuts, etc. Any tips?
hehe
New to your blog, new to vegan. Your site is going to help me SO much! Thanks!!!
patience. sometimes it takes up to 7-10 minutes. if you stop for a while to rest after 5 minutes it helps let the oils out a bit and kinda lubricate. otherwise just give it time. dont add any liquid, just keep on pulsing, scraping the food processors sides down, and eventually it will get there. promise.
hi jane! glad you found me and glad to help 🙂
Love the balls 😉 These look extremely tasty, and I have a coconut obsession. Perfect!
This will definitely be on my list of recipes to do, thanks for sharing!
Woop! I was hoping you’d share this recipe-i am a HUGE fan of balls:). I actually just made your tropical power balls yesterday(delish BTW, thanks!) And these are next on my agenda, + I have all the ingredients already- YAY.
Xxx
This is making me seriously consider starting to bake. Looks fool proof, but I just don’t do baking. hmmm.
hehe 😉 I just love calling things BALLS.
Would agave or honey work you think?
definitely.
love this recipe! mine are in the oven baking now.. except i used fresh sweet potato puree instead of nut butter and added 1-2 tbsp of melted coconut oil.. can’t wait to try them! 🙂
I just gave the recipe a whirl and my batter turned out super liquidy. And yes, I did give my little chia friends a chance to gel out. Adding a ton more coconut at the end sopped up most of the extra juice but did not made something rollable like you have in your photos. How wet/ thick was your batter before you added in the last 1/2 cup coconut?
I just finished making them, and the batter was about the consistency of waffle batter before I added in the rest of the coconut. they were very soft, but look like they’re baking up great. Did you go ahead and bake yours anyway? How did they come out?
I did bake them anyway, wouldn’t want to waste good coconut! Because I had to add so much coconut to keep them from running all over the place they tasted very much like a standard macaroons. Tasty ones.
im going to have to re-make this recipe just to be sure i wrote down the measurements right…the dough wasnt very sticky (and definitely wasnt wet) and they turned out great. similar to yours it was batter-like before i added in the last amount of coconut. maybe i pulsed them in the food processor longer so they were more uniformly blended?
how did they end up coming out in the end?
as i mentioned to jane (above), im going to re-make this to be sure i wrote down the measurements right…
Mine came out great…sort of like coconut newtons! Good enough that I’m taking the rest of them to work tomorrow to share.
Were these made with sweetened or unsweetened coconut?
Did you get a chance to remake the recipe?
unsweetened. not yet.