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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Love that you call them fudge babies. Best name ever.
how about almonds? what kid of bar will that get us?
I make them with almonds most of the time, unless I don’t have them on hand. They turn out delicious!!
I pinned your fudge babies..So far I love your Blog..You have done an amazing job with the whole thing..
I’ve tried MANY of your recipes and love ALL of them, but never tried this one before until a couple of days ago (I don’t like the 2 main ingredients, dates or walnuts, so I figured what’s the point). I made a batch for my husband and … well, between my 4 year old daughter and I, we finished the batch (my husband only got 2)! You’re right, these are WAY better than anything you can buy! Oh, and I ran out of dates making the second batch, so I subbed prunes for part of the dates and it worked well! Thanks so much for making another AMAZING recipe!
I have to say I find these little babies IRRESISTIBLE it is absolutely impossible for me to grab one at a time out of the fridge. I have made a batch every week for the last 3 weeks they are so good! Thank you Katie for creating these!
Hey Katie! I used to make these all these time with a cheap little food processor I had and they always turned out great! Now I have a Black and Decker food processor, works great for everything except when I make this recipe now, it never turns to dough. 🙁 it’s all crumbs! So I tried putting a bit of liquid in it to give it some moisture but they just aren’t the same… Am I doing something wrong? How could I fix this?
Thanks so much!
Jess 🙂
The moisture comes from oil that will come out of the nuts. You need to squeeze the sandy dough together to make it stick. If it’s too dry, you may need to process it longer, or process the nuts separately before adding other ingredients. But don’t over process, or you will have an oily mess! Good luck, hope this helps everything come together for you. This really is an amazing recipe!!
Awesome healthy snack to hit that chocolate craving, i subbed half pistachios for the walnuts (1/2 cup each) and it came out to be a really nice flavour profile 🙂
OH MY GOSH KATIE!!! Just made these and they are INCREDIBLE!!! Not to be too personal, but I in recovery from an ED and Nakd bars (Larabars to you) are some of the only things I can eat… I made these and am SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW!
ANYONE that makes these MUST put a fudge baby in the microwave for 20 seconds, it actually tastes and feels like eating a chunk of hot fudge brownie!
SO MUCH <3 KATIE!
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I have a question: which one works better for a pie crust, this recipe or 30-sec chocolate pie crust? I tried the 30-sec one but I`d like to know which one do you offer. Thanks for all your delicious recipes 🙂
wouldn’t these just be awesome by substituting vanilla extract for rum extract?
great idea for xmas baking!