These carrot cake energy balls combine fresh carrot, almond butter, walnuts, cinnamon, and hemp hearts with protein powder for a sweet, warmly spiced snack with plenty of carrot cake character. The idea had been sitting in the back of my mind for a while after a post about carrot cake energy balls popped up in my feed. I was just waiting until I had both the free time and space in my tummy to come up with a vegan keto version to share. Now that my second book is finally edited and approved for release, I have a little more room in my life to make whatever happens to tickle my fancy, and these pretty little energy balls were one of the first things on my list.

The combination of almond flour and almond butter forms the base, while walnuts and hemp hearts add texture and protein powder boosts the protein without requiring substantially more nuts. Carrot provides the familiar flavor and a little natural sweetness, and cinnamon brings in the warm spice I associate with carrot cake. If you’d like a stronger carrot presence, you can double the amount for about 2.5g net carbs per ball, with minimal change to the other macros. For a nut-free version, replace the almond butter and almond flour with sunflower seed butter and sunflower seed flour, and swap the walnuts for toasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds.

These fit nicely in rotation with some of my other Energy Balls when I want a small sweet snack, and the carrot, walnuts, and cinnamon also make them a natural addition to my Fall Spice Treats. You can experiment with flavored protein powder, although I find it can make the balls overly sweet, so a mixture of plain and flavored powder may work better. If you prefer not to use protein powder at all, you can replace it with additional almond flour, but this will increase the calories, fat, and net carbs while reducing the protein. However you adapt them to suit your needs, I’m glad I finally found the time to turn that recipe idea sitting in my feed into a vegan keto treat I could share with you all.