My food processor has been running almost every Sunday lately. Part of it is habit; part of it is that I keep a small jar of these apricot and coconut bliss balls in the fridge and, without fail, reach for one around 3pm when the balcony herbs need watering and my brain quietly checks out.
These are not fussy. They are also genuinely good — which is not always the same thing with bliss balls. I will be honest: I have made versions with adaptogens, with activated charcoal, with four different protein powders, and most of them were more interesting to photograph than to eat. This one I keep coming back to because the flavour is actually there. Dried apricot has a tartness that anchors all the sweetness, the coconut adds something almost floral, and a little lemon zest lifts the whole thing without making it taste like cleaning product.
Why apricots work so well in no-bake snacks
Dried apricots are doing a lot of work here beyond flavour. Their natural sugars bind the mixture, so you need very little else to hold the balls together. They are also a decent source of dietary fibre and provide some iron, which is useful context if you are making these for children’s lunchboxes — though I would not oversell any single snack as a nutritional solution. For a broader picture of what a balanced eating pattern actually looks like day to day, the Australian Dietary Guidelines published by Eat for Health are worth bookmarking.
What I love about this particular combination is the way the apricot softens once it’s processed with the cashews — it becomes almost jammy, slightly sticky, and that texture is exactly what you want when you are rolling small balls that need to hold their shape for three or four days in a container.
Ingredients
- 200 g dried apricots (sulphur-free if you can find them; the colour will be darker but the flavour is better)
- 150 g raw cashews
- 60 g desiccated coconut, plus extra for rolling
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- 1–2 tbsp cold water, as needed
Makes approximately 18 balls. Prep time: 20 minutes (plus 20 minutes chilling).
Method
- Place the dried apricots in a small bowl and cover with just-boiled water. Leave them for 10 minutes to plump slightly, then drain well and pat dry with paper towel. This step is skippable if your apricots are already quite soft, but if they are on the dry side it makes a real difference to the final texture.
- Add the cashews to a food processor and pulse until they resemble coarse breadcrumbs — about 8 to 10 short pulses. You want some texture remaining; if you go too far you will end up with cashew butter and the balls will be dense.
- Add the drained apricots, desiccated coconut, tahini, maple syrup, lemon zest, vanilla and salt. Process until the mixture clumps together when you press a small amount between your fingers. If it is still crumbly after 45 seconds of processing, add cold water one tablespoon at a time.
- Tip the mixture out onto a clean board and taste it. Adjust lemon zest or salt if needed. The mixture should be slightly tacky but not sticky enough to coat your hands.
- Roll heaped tablespoons of the mixture into balls — roughly 30 g each. Roll each one through the extra desiccated coconut until evenly coated.
- Arrange on a tray lined with baking paper and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before eating. They firm up considerably as they chill, which is the point.
A note on texture and the rolling step
The smell when it hits the food processor — apricot, coconut, that faint nuttiness from the cashews — is genuinely one of the better kitchen moments this recipe offers. It smells like something more elaborate than it is.
For rolling, slightly damp hands help. Not wet — just a light rinse, shake off the excess. The mixture will feel a little rough to start but smooths out as the warmth of your hands works it. Some people use a small ice cream scoop to portion first and then roll; that works well if you want uniform sizing, which matters if you are packing these for children and want consistent servings.
I roll mine through coconut because that is what I always have on the balcony shelf, but finely chopped pistachios, sesame seeds, or even a dusting of raw cacao powder all work. The dark chocolate and tahini bliss balls on the site use a cacao coating and it is very good if you want something more dessert-adjacent.
Storing and serving
These keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days, or in the freezer for six weeks. I portion them into small reusable bags straight from the freezer on Sunday nights, and by the time they hit a lunchbox by mid-morning they are perfectly thawed — still cool, which is actually nicer than room temperature in Sydney summers.
If you are serving them as part of a snack spread rather than a lunchbox, I like them alongside something sharp and fresh. A few segments of blood orange or a small bowl of Golden Door’s watermelon juice cuts through the sweetness nicely in warmer months.
For the afternoon energy dip specifically — and if you have not read the post on how to read your energy slumps, it is worth five minutes — a bliss ball with a small handful of seeds or a piece of fruit gives you both the quick carbohydrate and enough fat and protein to prevent the follow-up crash. That is the actual goal here, not perfection.
A variation worth trying
Swap 50 g of the cashews for macadamias. The flavour becomes richer, more buttery, and the texture slightly softer. Macadamias are expensive — I know — but a small proportion goes a long way, and they grow in Queensland so at least the food miles are shorter than most nuts on the supermarket shelf. If you are in the mood for something similar but more substantial as a slice, the carob, almond and blueberry slice scratches a similar itch.
A ginger version is also excellent: add 1 teaspoon of ground ginger and 1 tablespoon of finely grated fresh ginger to the processor with everything else. The warmth builds slowly after you eat one and it is particularly good in the cooler months. I made a batch like this recently while reading through the Better Health Channel’s guidance on healthy snacking, mostly because their advice aligns with what I already reckon: whole food, real ingredients, reasonable portions.
One last thing. I have seen bliss ball recipes calling for Medjool dates as the binder with apricots added for flavour, and in my experience the dates dominate completely — you lose the apricot almost entirely. If apricot is the point, use apricot as the hero and keep the dates for another day. That is a small but confident opinion and I am standing by it.
These keep me honest about snacking. A batch on Sunday, and I have something real to reach for all week instead of whatever is sitting in the work kitchen biscuit tin. Anyway.
— Mei Lin, Golden Door Living kitchen
