Inspired by other blogs who did truffles years ago, I’ve been wanting to do truffles for quite some time. I’ve had loads of ideas about what to do! Caramel filled chocolates, chocolate covered peanut clusters, using apricots, chocolate and caramel drizzles…. But I’m getting carried away. I ended up just doing 3 different types of truffles, and I think they are perfect for a Valentine’s Day Gift.
They are easy to do–literally could be done in almost 30 minutes–and look so impressive. Guys, I’m telling you, your significant other will be FLOORED if you make these! Not only are they super tasty and homemade, but they are actually healthy too. And they are actually quite quick and simple (no reason to tell them that though!). I do recommend doing all three, or at least two of them though, because they look so beautiful in contrast with one another.
So get going and impress your significant other with these delicious, yet healthful treats.
Coconut Snowball Truffles
These were inspired by Oskri Coconut Bar. Chris has been going on a coconut rage (hello, coconut ice cream!) and couldn’t stop talking about these bars he tried. So, I decided to try to make them on my own. How difficult could it be, right? They were only made out of brown rice syrup and coconut anyway. Turns out, I was right. They are super simple.
Makes about 8 large truffles.
- 1 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut
- pinch of sea salt
- 1/4- 1/3 cup brown rice syrup
In a bowl, mix coconut and salt. Add in brown rice syrup, trying to pour it over the coconut evenly. Start with 1/4 cup, and then add more as necessary to make the mixture stick together easily. You shouldn’t need more than 1/3 cup total.
Press mixture together tightly with hands–you really can’t overdo it! Then roll into evenly sized balls or any desired shapes. Like all the different truffles, you can shape these things into anything you want, as long as you have a little patience. So go crazy with it (and please send me any pictures of your masterpieces!). Store in fridge.
Trail Mix Truffles
This truffle is inspired by coconut petit fours I made a while ago. I took a chance this time by not chopping the dates before putting them into the food processor—I thought it would be so much easier to not chop them, provided that it worked. And it did! So now this recipe is simplified even more.
Makes about 12-13 large truffles
- 8 pitted dates, soaked in water for a few minutes
- ½ cup almonds or walnuts
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- pinch of sea salt (about ¼ teaspoon)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
While dates are soaking in water, put in almonds, oats, salt, and cinnamon in food processor and pulse until finely ground. Then drain dates, and add into food processor. Process until the dates are fully chopped and the mixture is sticking together.
Form mixture into small balls or shapes.
Coconut Date Truffles
Makes about 13-14 truffles.
- 12 pitted dates, soaked in water for a few minutes
- ½ cup almonds or walnuts
- 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- pinch of sea salt (about ¼ teaspoon)
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
While dates are soaking in water, put in almonds, coconut, salt, and cinnamon in food processor and pulse until finely ground. Then drain dates, and add into food processor. Process until the dates are fully chopped and the mixture is sticking together.
Form mixture into small balls or shapes.
Chocolate-Dunked Truffles
If you want these to be the same size as the other truffles, make the the truffles slightly smaller as the chocolate coating will make them a bit bigger.
- Any of the above truffles
- About 1/3 bag of chocolate chips—you can use dark, semi-sweet, or milk chocolate
Melt chocolate via a double boiler or via a microwave. I opted for the microwave—after all, I was going for speedy and easy here. The main trick is to not burn the chocolate, because it’s easy to do. Put chocolate in microwave safe bowl. Melt the chocolate in the microwave at 70%
power in 30-second intervals, stirring in between. Mine took about 1 ½ minutes, although I’m not going to lie, my microwave is a beast. My guess is that it would take about 2 to 2½ minutes for most microwaves.
Once the chocolate has melted, get ready to get a little messy. Dip the truffles in the chocolate and then place on a plate, silpat, or parchment paper. Put chocolates in fridge to harden, about 1 hour.
Making the Gift
For the Valentine’s Day Gift, I bought the cheapest chocolate heart container I could find in the grocery store. I was planning on buying an empty box somewhere, but when I saw a container for $2.50, I knew I wasn’t going to get a better deal than that. So just get a box of cheap chocolates, remove those ones, and put in yours.
SPECIAL NOTE: Make sure to look at the box BEFORE you make all the shapes for the truffles! I made the mistake of making all my truffles circular, only to open the container and see that most of the spots were rectangular. It’s not too big of a deal to switch them, but a tad bit cumbersome.