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!
More Reader Favorite Recipes:
I absolutely love this! I don’t even bother to roll them into balls – I just put some of the mixture in a bowl and eat with a spoon. It’s my favorite treat these days! Thank you sooo much for sharing this recipe with us!
Loving your recipes; the fudge babies and related variations are my nightly ritual now. I’m finding that I can resist other temptations that I encounter during the day because I think to myself, “I don’t need that; I can have a fudge baby (or three) when I get home!” Guess I should buy stock in dates; I’m glad Costco carries them in bulk. Ha! Thanks so much for yumming it up!
i wanted to make them today, when i prepared my dates it turned out i didn’t have walnuts, so i used hazelnuts instead – so delicious!! 😀
I am a brand new fan and a brand new vegan, though an old broad. I love your recipes and I would love to prepare more of them, but I’d really like to be able to easily print them out. Could you make it easier for us dinosaurs who don’t have laptops or iphones?
I have “learn to install a print button” on my to-do list!! 🙂
I just made these and the peanut butter and cookie dough flavors. They were all very delicious! Roughly how many calories does one fudge baby have?
Just made these. INCREDIBLE! I would call them Brownie Babies. This is the first confection I’ve eaten since going grain free three years ago. Grain-free, gluten-free, sugar-free. 5 minutes start to finish! ROCK!
These are sooooooooo good!!! I love this recipe so much!!!!! <3 🙂 They sound kind of weird at first with the dates (i don't like dates by themselves) but they are so good! Did i mention that i love this recipe!?!? If I didn't know that they don't have sugar in them, I would think that I was being bad by eating 2 of them at night!
Fold the crumbs into sugar-free whipped topping and freeze for some divinity. My husband discovered this!!! So good. 🙂
Made them sooooo good. They do not taste healthy at all!!
I don’t have a food processor…is there any other way that I could make these?!? I’m always looking for “healthier” desserts, cause both my hubby and I have major sweet teeth!! 🙂
Sorry, I don’t know 🙁
Some people say a blender works, but it’s quite sticky.