Like many good things in life, truffles were invented by a complete accident. One of the apprentices of a famous French chef was trying to make a pastry cream, but his brain malfunctioned (or so it seemed at the time) and he poured hot cream into the wrong bowl; the one filled with broken up chocolate. As the mixture cooled off and hardened, he realised that he was able to work it with his hands to form soft, chocolate balls. Once he rolled them in cocoa powder they reminded him of the prized fungi known as truffles which is how he named his new invention.
High quality truffles are still rolled by hand so they usually come with a high price tag. While it may seem like making truffles is the domain of a master chocolatier, it is really quite a simple task (if a little bit messy). In this recipe, I’ve replaced butter and cream with coconut milk and a small amount of coconut oil (they don’t taste coconutty at all, promise!), making them less unhealthy (one vegan chocolate truffle is only 50kCal) but not compromising on the taste. The recipe below allows you to make two different kinds of truffles. If you stick to the base recipe only, you’ll get intensely chocolaty truffles that will win your heart (or your partners!). If you add winter-spiced additions to your base mix, you’ll end up with warming winter truffles, begging you to enjoy them all by yourself. Apart from going fantastically well with your espresso or evening brandy, they also make a delicious present for the chocoholics in your life; ideal for this coming Valentine’s Day.
125 g of dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) ½ cup of coconut milk* 1 tsp coconut oil (refined is recommended) 2 tbsp / 30 ml maple syrup** 2 tbsp cocoa (for rolling) 2 tsp ground cinnamon (for rolling)
WINTER-SPICED FLAVOUR ADDITIONS
vanilla bean, seeds ¼ tsp grated nutmeg ½ tsp ground cinnamon 3 pinches ground hot chili powder 2 tbsp / 30 ml fresh orange juice
**If you don’t have maple syrup, you can dissolve sugar in the orange juice instead.
