Dairy Free Coconut Apricot Balls (Gluten Free, Vegan)

Create an allergy friendly version of an old-fashioned sweet treat with our dairy free coconut apricot ball recipe. These sweet apricot and coconut flavoured balls taste just like the ones your Nanna used to make, but without any milk, wheat/gluten or other top allergens. They don’t pretend to be a healthy snack or apricot bliss ball, just a delicious sweet treat that’s ideal for sharing.

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Traditional apricot balls without the allergens

Traditional apricot balls are often made with crushed sweet biscuits, dried apricots, condensed milk and coconut. That means that they usually will contain milk (in the condensed milk and the biscuits), wheat and gluten (in the biscuits) and potentially nuts or other allergens too. If you are making apricot balls to share with friends or family with food allergies or dietary restrictions, it’s easy to use allergy-friendly ingredients so that everyone can enjoy them.

On additional ingredient to be aware of is sulphites (sulfites), often present as a preservative in dried fruit. Sulphites can trigger reactions for some people. If you need to avoid sulphites, look for organic sulphite free dried apricots. These are often available at health food stores, and may be darker in colour than the orange apricots you are used to.

Dairy free apricot ball ingredients

To make these delicious dairy free apricot balls you’ll need only 4 ingredients:

• 200g (7oz) plain sweet biscuits (gluten free, dairy, egg and nut free), finely crushed
• 300g dried apricots
• 1 cup (85g or 3oz) desiccated coconut
• 320g can (11.3oz) condensed non-dairy milk (such as coconut or soy)
• Additional 1 cup (85g or 3oz) desiccated coconut for rolling

Allergy-friendly plain biscuits or cookies

You can use any type of plain crunchy cookie that is suitable for your allergies for this recipe. We used supermarket gluten free arrowroot biscuit to make our apricot balls. They are free from gluten, milk, eggs, nuts and soy, but do have a may contain statement for nuts. If you don’t need to avoid soy the Leda arrowroot biscuits are very similar.

Another allergy-friendly biscuit/cookie option is Schar digestives (contain soy). Just be sure to check the ingredient labelling and any precautionary allergen statements carefully to choose something safe for your own allergies.

Desiccated Coconut

It’s important to only use desiccated coconut (dried and finely grated coconut). Don’t try to substitute shredded coconut or coconut flakes as they will be too moist and you’ll have trouble forming your rum balls properly.

Dairy free condensed milk

We used Pandaoroo sweetened condensed coconut milk to make these rum balls. The coconut flavour works well with the desiccated coconut in this recipe. You could use any safe plant based sweetened condensed milk, such as oat or soy (if you don’t need to avoid soy).

There are several non-condensed milks available at our local supermarket. However, if you can’t source something suitable, you can always make your own with our easy dairy free condensed milk recipe.

Method

Place dried apricots and biscuits/cookies in the bowl of a food processor and process until the apricots are chopped and the biscuits are crushed to a fine crumb.

Add 1 cup of desiccated coconut and the sweetened condensed coconut milk and blend until just combined.

Place the additional cup of desiccated coconut in a flat shallow bowl or plate.

Take one heaped teaspoon of the mixture at a time and roll into a ball. Then roll the ball in coconut to coat thoroughly.

Place apricot balls in an airtight container and put in the fridge to cool.

This recipe makes about 30 dairy free apricot balls.

Storage and Freezing

Prepared apricot balls will keep in the fridge in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks. Apricot balls also freeze well for up to 2 months (allow to come to room temperature before serving).

A jar of these delicious sweet treats also makes a great gift.

More allergy friendly recipes to try

For more tasty snack ball recipes, try our delicious coconut and lemon balls, dairy free ‘rum’ balls or vegan candy ‘spuds’ (coconut condensed milk balls). Or for more delicious treats made with dairy free condensed milk, you might like our dairy free coconut ice or coconut maple fudge.

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