Don’t want to snack on freshly cut fruit or chopped vegetables while cleansing? Time to make some energy balls! You can fully customize energy balls with different nuts, nut butters, seeds, seed butters, dried fruit, and more. This recipe, however, is nut-free and only requires three ingredients: dates, hemp hearts, and desiccated coconut. To make the quick distinction, desiccated coconut is not the same as a package of sweetened coconut flakes you see in the baking aisle of a grocery store. Desiccated coconut is unsweetened, grated coconut meat that has been dehydrated. Because it has no added sugars, the flavor is slightly nuttier.

Although any date variety will work for this recipe, we recommend Medjool dates because they are usually sweeter and more flavorful. Not a fan of dates? You can replace them with another dried fruit, such as dried figs or raisins. Just play around with the measurements in order to yield the best consistency possible. Energy balls are not an exact science, so your measurements do not need to be exact. We often eyeball each batch and they turn out just fine! If you are a stickler for the rules, though, we have the measured recipe for you to follow.

Due to the thick nature of the energy ball batter, which you form into balls with your hands, you must use a food processor. A food processor will easily blend the ingredients together until they form a clumpy, dough-like consistency. Once you achieve that, it’s time to get rolling! Just make sure that you wet your hands with water first to avoid the mixture sticking to your hands. It will yield about 10-12 energy balls, which you can store in an airtight container in the fridge for two weeks, or in the freezer for up to two months.