Dark and White Chocolate Truffles - RAW!

Mmmm... Seriously enjoying all of the excuses Easter provides for eating excessive amounts of chocolate. The catch is, like always, it has to be good chocolate. Healthy, homemade chocolate. And raw, so you don't lose any of the nutritional value - especially those amazing antioxidants in the chocolate and the great properties of raw coconut oil as well. Coconut has a whole host of benefits, but did you know that it is an anti-fungal and anti-microbial? It truly is amazing stuff.

I stumbled upon The Alkaline Sisters, who not only have amazing recipes but also gorgeous photos. It was a real treat to browse their site, and even better to stumble across a recipe for a real treat - Raw Chocolate Truffles. It's Easter. I love chocolate. I love experimenting and trying new things. I mostly just wanted to spend the entire afternoon in the kitchen. This ticked all the boxes and then some, so I decided to give it a whirl and adapt the recipe to be done in a Thermomix. This is up there in my 'best decisions ever'. When they say these are to die for, they are NOT kidding.
These gals have a host of gorgeous recipes on their blog, have a browse and find some inspiration. And, if you're not brave enough or comfortable enough with your Thermomix yet to convert a recipe you like the sounds of, get in touch with me and I will either give you some hints or convert it for you!

Before I launch into the converted and tinkered-with truffle recipe, though, I want to share with you all our Good Friday feast. I have to confess that I am not exactly the religious type, and my sister informed me over dinner that Good Friday is traditionally about fasting and eating less or less extravagant foods than usual. Or something like that. I was too busy stuffing my face to pay attention properly... ;)
But in all seriousness, it was a fantastic meal shared with my family and, to me, that is what Easter (and all holidays) is all about at it's core. Doing something nice for people that you love, and having a nice time together. Taking a moment to appreciate what you have. Religious aspects aside, Easter is a wonderful time to just enjoy the company of people that you love and appreciate the joy that others give you and you give them.

So here is our Good Friday menu...

Entree: Beetroot Risotto Quenelles on Parmesan Crisps

Main: Dukkah-Crusted Salmon with Carrot, Ginger and Cardamom Salad and Beetroot Salad

Dessert: Chocolate Truffles

The whole meal was absolutely deeelicious! Everyone loved the Quenelles (basically just little football-shaped-balls of leftover risotto, some coated in sesame seeds, baked in the oven and served on top of parmesan crisps that I had baked earlier in the afternoon), they were an absolute hit! The main was nothing new, all standard favourites, but delicious nonetheless and packed with flavour (not to mention super quick and easy)!

Then came the truffles. There is no single word that can accurately describe these balls of heaven. They are amazing. They are divine. They are so heavenly that they are sinful. Yes, they are time-consuming, but they're very easy and worth the time. It just requires a bit of forethought to pre-soak the nuts. You could even make them in stages... Make the mix, pop it in the fridge, go and do something... Then just let it sit out on the bench to soften for a few minutes when you are ready to roll them into balls... Pop them back in the fridge, come back later, make the raw chocolate and coat them, then whack them back into the fridge again! That way you don't spend the whole afternoon in the kitchen - although, admittedly, I did manage to knock out two other courses during the truffle setting times. So you can just crank them out in one afternoon, or stagger it so that you can do just one stage whenever is convenient.

Of course, these are fantastic for Easter. They're also brilliant for birthdays, Valentine's Day, Mother's/Father's Day, Christmas, just to cheer up someone who is down in the dumps... Any excuse will do, really!

Feel free to tweak to your tastes - orange zest would be suuuuper yummy in the dark choc ones, and raspberry in the white choc ones.
So here is my Thermomix-adapted recipe for you all to enjoy!!!

Raw Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles

Ingredients:

75g raw hazelnuts

40g raw cashews

80g raw cacao butter, finely chopped

80g extra virgin coconut oil

130g raw cacao powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch fine sea salt

170g raw honey

20g raw cacao nibs (optional)

Method:

1) Put hazelnuts and cashews in a bowl, cover with cold water and soak for 3 hours.

2) When nuts have finished soaking, weigh cacao butter into TM bowl. Melt for 6 mins on 37 degrees, speed 1.

3) Add coconut oil, melt for 2 mins on 37 degrees and speed 1.

4) Meanwhile, drain soaked nuts and pat dry.

5) Add cacao powder, vanilla, salt, honey and drained nuts to TM bowl. Whizz for 30 seconds on speed 8; scrape down sides and repeat.

6) I wanted to try some with raw cacao nibs added in, so I put half the batch in a bowl in the fridge and continued with the remaining mix. Add cacao nibs to TM bowl; mix on reverse, speed 4 for 20 secs. The cacao nibs went down really well with my taste testers (more on their opinions at the end of this post). If you want to put cacao nibs through the whole batch, use 40g instead of 20g and don't take out half the batch.

7) Put mix into a bowl and pop it in the fridge to set for at least 45 mins (yes, this length of time is necessary - otherwise you'll really struggle to roll them). If you're in a hurry, pop it in the freezer, stirring occasionally, until it is workable.

8) Once mix is set, take a spoonful (I used a teaspoon - not a teaspoon measure, just a regular teaspoon) and roll it into a ball. Put on a lined baking tray and repeat with remaining mixture. Put the balls back into the fridge to set for 15mins or so before dipping into raw chocolate (see below).

Raw Coconut-Cashew White Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients:

120g raw cashews

80g raw cacao butter, finely chopped

60g extra virgin coconut oil

75g desiccated coconut (make sure this is good quality, unsulphured coconut)

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch fine sea salt

140g raw honey

20g cacao nibs (optional)

Method:

1) Put cashews in a bowl, cover with cold water and soak for 3 hours.

2) When nuts have finished soaking, weigh cacao butter into TM bowl. Melt for 6 mins on 37 degrees, speed 1.

3) Add coconut oil, melt for 2 mins on 37 degrees and speed 1.

4) Meanwhile, drain soaked nuts and pat dry.

5) Add coconut, vanilla, salt, honey and drained nuts to TM bowl. Whizz for 30 seconds on speed 8; scrape down sides and repeat.

6) I wanted to try this type with raw cacao nibs added in as well, so I put half the batch in a bowl in the fridge and continued with the remaining mix. Add cacao nibs to TM bowl; mix on reverse, speed 4 for 20 secs. If you want to put cacao nibs through the whole batch, use 40g instead of 20g and don't take out half the batch.

7) Put mix into a bowl and pop it in the fridge to set for at least 45 mins (yes, this length of time is necessary - otherwise you'll really struggle to roll them). If you're in a hurry, pop it in the freezer, stirring occasionally, until it is workable.

8) Once mix is set, take a spoonful (I used a teaspoon - not a teaspoon measure, just a regular teaspoon) and roll it into a ball. Put on a lined baking tray and repeat with remaining mixture. Put the balls back into the fridge to set for 15mins or so before rolling in coconut or dipping into raw chocolate (see below).

Raw Chocolate (for drinking coating truffles)

Ingredients:

200g raw cacao butter

85g raw cacao powder

100g raw honey

Method:

1) Weigh cacao butter into TM bowl. Melt for 10-15mins on 37 degrees, speed 1 (time will depend on how finely you have chopped the cacao butter).

2) Add cacao powder and honey, whizz for 20 seconds on speed 6, then incorporate for 10 minutes on 37 degrees, speed 1.

3) Give it another good whizz on speed 6 for 20 seconds.

4) Pour into a deep bowl or mug.

5) Stick a toothpick in each truffle. Dip one truffle into chocolate to coat, then allow extra choc to drip off. Place back on the tray. I found it really useful to use an extra toothpick to help ease the first toothpick out. I sprinkled the cacao nib ones with cacao nibs and the plain ones with cacao powder, to help hide the toothpick hole. Repeat with remaining truffles, then pop back into the fridge to set the choc coating.

6) NOTE: You don't have to do the extra chocolate to coat. I rolled some of the white choc ones in coconut and they were still amazing. You could roll the dark ones in cacao powder, cacao nibs or crushed hazelnuts as an alternative.

With the different coatings and the cacao nibs, I did six variations.

The one in the middle is the plain white chocolate truffle (no nibs) coated in coconut.
Then, clockwise starting from the one at the bottom of the picture we have: plain white choc coated in dark choc; white choc with cacao nibs, coated in dark choc; white choc with cacao nibs coated in coconut; plain dark choc coated in dark choc; dark choc with cacao nibs coated in dark choc.

It was easy enough, with the coconut-covered ones, to tell which was plain and which had cacao nibs - I could see the cacao nibs under the coconut coating. With the ones coated in dark choc, I used the sprinkly toothpick-hole-covering decorations on top to differentiate between the different types.

So, white choc with cacao nibs covered in dark choc got a sprinkling of cacao nibs and coconut, whereas the plain white choc covered in dark choc only got a sprinkling of coconut. Plain dark choc got a sprinkling of cacao powder (you could also do a sprinkling of crushed hazelnuts), and dark choc with cacao nibs got a sprinkling of cacao nibs. Easy as pie chocolate!

An inside view of the truffles.

And the verdict of the taste-testers?

3 out of 4 voted white chocolate with cacao nibs coated in dark chocolate as their favourite! It was the clear winner. The last vote went to white chocolate with no nibs coated in dark chocolate.
There were a couple of themes: the white choc one generally prevailed over the dark, and the nibs generally prevailed over the no nibs. One person suggested less cacao powder or more honey in the dark choc ones, but I think this depends on how rich you like your chocolate! I like mine daaaaark, so I was happy with them as they were. Just food for thought, if you don't want a super rich truffle.

I really took one for the team, testing and converting this recipe, didn't I?

I might have to go and taste test another one... just to, you know, make sure they're still good and stuff... ;)
Enjoy!