These walnut bliss balls are inspired by a beloved dessert from my home country, Slovenia. Potica is a walnut roll that Slovenians eat on holidays like Christmas and Easter. It’s one of my favourite desserts from home. When you don’t want to make a whole potica but would still like to enjoy its amazing taste, these bliss balls can be a great substitute. They pack that classic potica taste in just one bite.
It’s quite easy to make these bliss balls. Simply crush walnuts, raisins, and medjool dates in a blender, then mix them together with vanilla, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Add some rum and coconut cream to get the consistency of a dough, then shape little bliss balls. For the finish, you can roll bliss balls in crushed walnuts, but honestly, they taste better without it (although perhaps they look better when rolled in crushed walnuts).
These walnut bliss balls are a great treat, especially if you eat gluten-free. This way, you also get to enjoy the wonderful taste of potica. You can served them as a dessert or gift them as an edible holiday present.
Have you made this recipe? Let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear your feedback.
More delicious bliss balls recipes:
Walnut Bliss Balls (Potica Inspired) (V, GF)
Ingredients
- 150 g walnuts
- 40 g raisins
- 70 g medjool dates pitted
- 1/5 tsp vanilla powder
- 1/5 tsp Ceylon cinnamon powder
- zest of 1 lemon
- 6.25 ml (1 1/4 tsp) rum
- 20 ml (4 tsp) coconut cream just cream from a can of coconut cream without the water
For coating (optional):
- 15 g walnuts
Instructions
- Put walnuts in a blender and crush them. Work in three 50g batches so that they don't turn into walnut butter. Stir and pulse again until you crush them well, so that there are no hard pieces left. Transfer to a bowl.
- If you're doing coating at the end, crush those walnuts now (for me the balls taste better without the coating but it does look nice with the coating on). Set them aside in a separate bowl.
- Put raisins in the blender and crush them. Transfer them to the bowl with walnuts.
- Put pitted medjool dates in a blender, sprinkle some ground walnuts over them (so the mixture will be less sticky) and crush them. Transfer them to the bowl with walnuts and raisins.
- Mix together crushed walnuts, raisins and medjool dates by hand because that's the easiest way to break apart parts of medjool dates and raisins that are sticking together.
- Add vanilla, cinnamon, and lemon zest to the bowl and mix dry ingredients together with a spoon.
- Add also rum and coconut cream to the same bowl. If your coconut cream is very hard, you can soften it in a small pot or pan over low heat. Mix everything together well until you get the consistency of a dough.
- Divide the dough in 10 equal parts (I measure it in grams). Shape 10 balls.
- If you are using coating, roll the balls in crushed walnuts.
- Store in the fridge.
