SMUDGE: October 2015

When I was growing up there used to be this little chocolate truffles shop around the corner from my house. I would walk by it all the time, sometimes just popping in to have a look and all the delicious treats! My goodness it was like stepping into a little paradise of chocolate heaven! So many types and flavours to choose from. But theres nothing quite like a classic plain Chocolate Truffle! Simple and sweet, and you can't really go wrong.

Naughty treats like that, although super delicious, are no longer in my diet. Except of course for special occasions like weddings or Christmas! But this doesn't upset me one little bit when I can create little Raw and/or healthy Truffles of my own whenever I like! And what's even better, they're guilt free!

I came up with this recipe for rich and decadent Chocolate Truffles. Totally healthy, but totally mouth watering! So if your a chocolate lover like me, but don't want to feel bad for indulging, I highly recommend you gives these Truffles a go!

Healthy lifestyles are the best!!

Let's get to it then. You'll need a high speed blender or food processor to make the chocolate mixture. I used my Optimum Blender.

INGREDIENTS

Chocolate Ball Mix:

1 Avocado

375g of Pitted Dates (Roughly. Doesn't have to be exact)

3/4 cup Raw Cacao

3 Tablespoons of Nut Butter

1/4 cup of Water

Chocolate Sauce:

2 1/2 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil

3 Tablespoons of Raw Cacao

1 Tablespoon of Maple Syrup

1 Tablespoon of Honey

Serves: Roughly 25 balls.

Blend your Avocado, Dates and Water together first, until you get a consistent mixture. It helps having a great blender like the Optimum, because it come with a special tamper tool to help push your ingredients down while blending. But in any case, you may need to stop blending a couple times and scrape the mixture down from the sides.

Next, add in your Raw Cacao and Nut Butter. I used a natural Peanut Butter with 'Peanuts' being the only ingredient. Delicious! Blend together until a lovely chocolatey paste forms. Test taste! I like to test taste all my mixtures.. especially the chocolate ones!

Time to roll them up into little balls! The chocolate mixture is quite sticky, so it can be a little tricky to roll them. I actually popped this mixture into the fridge before rolling them though because I was busy with some other things, and I found that after having been in the fridge for a couple hours it was a lot less sticky, and quite easy to roll! So if you have time, give that way a try. But if you're rolling them straight away then you can get them done easily enough in the same way that we did with the Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffles! Do this by using some latex kitchen gloves, and dropping a balls worth of mixture into a small bowl of Cacao. Move it around a little, and then roll the ball in your palm.

If you did put your mixture into the fridge for a couple hours you'll be able to roll the balls without rolling them Cacao, but I like to do this step anyway. It looks pretty.

Once all the mixture has been rolled into little balls, it's time to coat them in a layer of chocolatey goodness! Pop the chocolate balls into the freezer while your get your Chocolate Sauce ready. Having them cold helps the chocolate sauce to set nice and fast.

In the cooler weather, coconut oil is hard, so make sure your coconut oil is a liquid before you add your other ingredients. I put it in a mini milk pan on low heat to melt it. Then simply add all your other ingredients and mix well until it's completely smooth!

Before coating the balls, the chocolate sauce will need to be the right temperature and thickness. If you mixed it together over the stove it will be too hot and runny to do it straight away. So pop it in the fridge or freezer. It won't take long for it too cool down and thicken up. Only a few minutes, so don't leave it too long. Stir it through often to check. It can take a couple attempts to know how thick it needs to be. If it's too thin, it will run straight off. But if it's too thick, you'll run out of mixture! There is a lovely medium though, and you'll be able to coat all the balls perfectly. To do this, pop a chocolate ball on a teaspoon and dip it into your chocolate sauce. Let the excess sauce run off a little, then pop it down on a tray lined with baking paper.

The chocolate sauce will start to set on the balls by themselves, but once they're all covered in a coat of chocolate, pop them into the freezer for at least 10 minutes, or until the chocolate has completely set. Put the remainder of your chocolate sauce into the fridge. It needs to thicken up a little more to to the final drizzle. Again, check the sauce every couple minutes to make sure it doesn't go too thick, but if it does, you can pop it back on the stove to thin, or if you're in a warm climate, simply leave it out in the open air.

Once the thickness of the chocolate sauce is looking good, get the balls out of the freezer, and drizzle the sauce on top in whichever way you like!

If there is any left over chocolate sauce, you can just pour it out onto some baking tray lined with baking paper and pop in the freezer. You'll have a little chocolate treat in minutes!

Ideally, leave them in your freezer for at least a few hours before serving. This helps harden the mixture up and makes them taste more rich and delicious! But if you're anything like me, you'll have a couple now, and a couple later for 'research'.

Remember to keep them in the freezer or fridge if they're not being eaten so that the chocolate doesn't melt.

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