Everyone’s favorite Fudge Babies, one of my most popular recipes of all time, are back once again!
Oil Free
Flourless
Vegan
Just 5 Ingredients… and NO Baking Required!
These secretly vegan and healthy chocolate fudge balls, with just a few wholesome ingredients and no added sugar, are easy to make, completely delicious… and totally addictive!
Don’t say I didn’t warn you!!!!!
Readers also love this Banana Ice Cream
This has been one of my most popular recipes with readers over the years, and for good reason.
If you’ve never heard of Fudge Babies, they’re basically raw and paleo chocolate truffles made without any added sugars, oil, or processed ingredients, and they’re pretty much impossible to stop eating.
The recipe is one of the easiest healthy desserts you’ll ever try.
Fudge Babies will always have a special place in my heart because, long before the Chickpea Cookie Dough Dip or the Black Bean Brownies came onto the scene, this was actually the first one of my recipes to ever go viral!
Fudge Babies come in all sorts of different flavors, such as Thin Mint, German Chocolate, and Chocolate Peanut Butter.
You can roll them into balls, cut out shapes with cookie cutters, or even form them into bars to make your own homemade Larabars, for a healthy snack any time you’re craving chocolate.
You can also roll them in coconut flour if you want to make your own homemade Larabar Bites.
And because they don’t need to be refrigerated, they’re great for any of the following:
Packing in a lunchbox
Making a batch to give as a gift
Shipping to family or friends
Taking as a healthy on-the-go snack
So why highlight the Fudge Babies again now?
Well first of all, the recipe is way too good to be lost in the archives.
If you have just 5 minutes, I highly recommend making a batch.
They are ridiculously fun to make and even more fun to eat.
Especially with Valentine’s Day around the corner, chocolate Fudge Babies are the perfect recipe, because they are both heart healthy and sinfully decadent and chocolatey at the same time.
But even more importantly: On February 21st, at noon EST, I’ll be making these fudge babies live in the studio at the USA Today Headquarters!
**Edit: Above is the live footage from the USA Today Headquarters broadcast
I included a few flavor variations below, but the sky really is the limit.
Have fun coming up with your own Fudge Baby flavors by adding ingredients such as chia seeds, almond extract, shredded coconut, instant coffee, or anything else you think sounds good.
I’d love to see your variations, so please feel free to post a photo of your results in the comment section below, or tag me on Instagram @ChocolateCoveredKatie.
Fudge Babies – The Famous Recipe!
Ingredients
- 1 cup walnuts or nuts of choice – Or here’s a Nut-Free Version
- 1 1/3 cup pitted dates
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3-4 tbsp cocoa or cacao powder
- optional just over 1/8 tsp salt
- optional mini chocolate chips
- optional add-ins such as chia seeds or shredded coconut
Instructions
- *If your dates are super hard, just soak them in boiling water for a half hour. Most regular grocery stores carry dates; just be sure to buy them pitted. I usually add the salt, but it’s your choice! Blend all ingredients in a food processor (or halve the recipe and use a single serve blender or mini chopper). When doing a full recipe, I’ve found that a food processor works much better than a blender because everything processes more evenly and the results are not a sticky mess. Roll into balls – I find it’s easiest to transfer the dough to a ziploc and smush it into one big ball, then break off pieces and roll into smaller balls. Feel free to dip in melted chocolate or roll in cocoa powder or shredded coconut or coconut flour. You can also form bars or even roll out the dough and cut shapes with cookie cutters! View Nutrition Facts Variations: Hot Chocolate Fudge Babies: 1/4 cup raw cashews or walnuts, loosely packed 2/3 cup pitted dates, 1 tbsp Dutch cocoa powder, pinch salt Coconut Cookie Fudge Babies: loosely packed 2/3 cup pitted dates, 1 1/2 tbsp coconut butter, pinch salt Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Babies: 1/4 cup roasted peanuts (with salt), loosely packed 2/3 cup pitted dates, 1 tbsp cocoa, 1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract And here’s a Cookie Dough Version!
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Wow these are amazing! My 2 picky eating kids love them. I will make these regularly. Trying to get the junk food out.
I finally made the fudge babies and WOW! My husband and I LOVE them! They taste exactly like rich, decadent, chocolate fudge! And they were so easy to make! I used Ghirardelli cocoa and whipped these up in my Nutri-bullet in about 3 minutes. Thank you for a great recipe!
!! Just made these but with salted peanuts instead of walnuts, and subbed dried cherries for half of the dates (and no cocoa).. And now I have a lovely bowl of peanut butter and jelly fudge babies!! Happyface!!
LOVE THESE! I just made them with Emerald cocoa almonds…amazing…also, the salt is perfection! Yay Paleo treats!!
I loved the fudge babies. Easy, sweet, healthy. This is a keeper recipe for me. Thank you.
I love these. I have made them twice now and the first time they were gone in literally two minutes lol. the second time i made them my dates were to old so they didnt bind as well so we used 1/2 cup of peanut butter and this makes the recipe even more delicious especially if your craving both chocolate and peanut butter!
Hi
What can I substitute for dates in this fudge babies? Can I use raisins? and what is the measurement for raisins?
WOW!!! These taste great! Easy to make ( like fool proof!) LOL thank goodness for that!
Hubby and I love them and now my neighbors think I slaved over them when they get them for special occasions…..I’m not saying a word, just getting all the glory!
Thanks!! You Rock!
These are delicious!
I tried the recipe with prunes instead (less sugar than dates). They have a strong flavor, and I was able to temper it with another tbls of cocoa. Mine didn’t get dry with the addition because the prunes are quite soft and gooey.
Thanks!
I had been considering making these for the longest time but was a bit sceptic all that they would really be as good as you said and never had dates around until finally today I picked up package of pitted dates at whole foods and decided to make these fudge babies. Oh my was I glad I did! The were AMAZING! They are so intensely chocolatey and brownie like, even the texture is like brownies. The only big differences between these and brownies are that these are much healthier and only take even a very slow cook like me five minutes to make!
You have a really great site — fab recipes; I just wish there was something set up so that I could print just one recipe……. instead of the whole page and all the posts.
Thanks
To print, highlight just the recipe itself and right-click “copy;” then open a new Word document and right-click “Paste.” You can give a name to this document and save it in a CCK Recipe file, and print it as needed.
I first had a student try one because I made them for our math department meeting and I wasn’t sure if “paleo” would go over well with the general public. He said they were really good, so I tried them out at our meeting. They LOVED them! I only used 3 tbsp of cocoa powder and they were plenty fudgey. Thanks Katie!
KATIE HELP PLEASE. I Followed your recipe to a T, but right now…my fudge balls don’t form into a ball because it’s more of a dry manure texture? 1 cup of walnuts, 1 tsp vanilla, pinch of salt, 3 Tablespoons cocoa powder, and I used a cup and 1/3 of pitted dates that weren’t sunmaid…don’t know if that’s the problem, but I’m highly frustrated and have two bags of idk-what-to-with sitting in my fridge..not sure how to fix it.
Add the optional water to make it stickier.
Hi Katie! I just made the Original Fudge Babies & am wondering if I over processed them. They are holding their ball shape & taste fine, but oil has dripped into the bottom of my container. Is that normal??
Hmmm maybe your walnuts were just extra oily? Or just process a little less next time?
Hi Katie! I just learned from “eleana’s pantry” blog that you are the originator of the fudge baby recipe so I wanted to thank you. My son made these for his class while in middle school when he did a self directed food project on healthy eating. The whole class and the teacher went wild for them and asked him to do his presentation (with fudge babies) for other classes. It was a so fun for him to pass along a healthy non-sugar idea to kids. He was a star for awhile at school and had all the kids reading labels at home and asking questions! So we are going to make them again as he is in second year of high school and needs to bring a treat to class for his birthday next week, so you will be glad to know that we continue to pass along this favorite idea! Best to you and glad to find your blog!