Love is in the air!
Doesn’t it feel great to love and to be loved?! Ahhhhhh…..
I’m a big believer in putting out what you want to receive back, not just on V-Day, but throughout the year. Being loving, brings back love, being peaceful brings back peace, giving out homemade treats will cause others to want to give ME treats … such a beautiful concept.
Whatever your motivation, you can’t deny it’s nice to give AND to receive, especially on Valentine’s Day.
These little treats are the perfect gift to give, especially if you care about your loved ones health. It’s like saying, “Hey, I LOVE you, but I don’t love you fat… enjoy these healthy treats.”
While these truffles look sinful, they’re rather wholesome. Made with just 6-ingredients, they’re simple to create and PROOF that you can make Valentine’s Day sweet, without sacrificing nutrition.
All you need is: nuts, dates, cacao powder, vanilla, grade-b maple syrup and sea salt.
Blend it all in a food processor, roll the mixture into balls, dust them with a little extra goodness and voila … you have a ball of health filled with vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants. Better than anything you can find on a Walgreens shelf in both taste and nutrition!
You can get creative with them too. Roll them in raw coconut flakes, keep them plain, or melt them in chocolate for some variety.
You can also switch up the nuts. These particular ones were made with 2 cups of almonds and 1 cup of walnuts. They’re a little more mealy and remind me more of Oreo crumbles or something (minus the chemicals and fake ingredients).
You can add in dried fruit too (like chopped cherries), or roll them in a superfood powder like maca, acai or spirulina. Lots of options for these little truffles!
Here’s a basic recipe for my Cacao Truffles rolled in coconut flakes. I got it from a raw food class I took a few years ago, but made it my own with a few additions.
Here’s what you’ll need for these chocolate truffle treats.
Cacao Truffles:
3 c. of walnuts
1 3/4 c. Medjool dates (pitted)
2/3 c. cacao powder
1/4 tsp. pink Himalayan sea salt
1 tsp non -alcohol vanilla
1 tsp grade b maple syrup
*coating options- coconut flakes, cacao powder, melted chocolate, maca powder, spirulina powder
Directions:
- In a food processor, blend walnuts until they become close to a powder.
- Add in cacao powder, vanilla, grade b syrup and sea salt. Tuck dates down inside the blended mixture (for better blending), blend until mixture begins to ball up.
- Take mixture and roll into balls using an ice cream scooper for more even truffles, or a small spoon, pack each truffle tightly and roll them around using both hands until even.
- Take rolled truffle balls and dust in coconut flakes (cacao powder, maca powder, vegan vanilla protein powder are all options), or keep plain and then place them onto a tray. If you want to roll them in melted chocolate, melt 1/2 of a bag of chocolate chips PLUS 2 teaspoons of coconut oil, roll balls in the melted chocolate, use a fork to lift them out, then place them onto a tray before moving on to step 5.
- Place tray of truffles into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set up.
- Serve.
**One batch yields 16 truffles
**Store and serve these from the refrigerator.
These coconut truffles which were made with walnuts, (you can see how they’re slightly different than the almond and walnut ones), are so chocolatey and soft, they are true decadence with just a hint of coconut thanks to the coconut flakes.
The truffles dipped in chocolate have a crisp chocolatey coating with a soft chocolate truffle tucked inside. It has such incredible flavor, it’s hard to believe that there’s anything nutritious about it.
Get some cellophane bags, place truffles inside and tie it with a ribbon … your baked goods suddenly become the sweetest treat to give to someone special.
And there you have it … a sweet Valentine’s treat that’s nutritious and delicious. The perfect way to say I love you AND your health.
Happy Valentine’s Day to you!
**NOTES**
* If you want to keep these vegan using vegan chips, Sunspire makes a chip. Their 65% cacao chips have dairy, but are higher in cacao content, a good option if you are not vegan.
*If you have a Vitamix, you can make these in the blender, just make sure the blender does not get too hot, otherwise the truffles will become gummy. Blend, take a break, blend some more, take a break, and so on.
*If you decide to make the truffles using ALMONDS and WALNUTS (as shown above), if mixture does not hold together, add in more grade-b maple syrup. I added 4 teaspoons total, to this batch, instead of the ONE used with the walnut/coconut truffles.
*The best way to melt chocolate is to get a small saucepan, fill with water, place a bowl inside the pan and melt on stove on medium to low heat. Dip truffles into bowl while on stove.
