Chocolate Raspberry Truffles

Although I never really celebrate Valentine’s Day, this time it came as an excuse to make some sweet, pink and chocolate flavored sweets. To be honest, my first idea was to make white chocolate raspberry truffles but cacao butter that I’ve ordered didn’t arrive in time to make them so I had to compromise. Good old dark chocolate did the job anyway and I was actually pleased how these turned out and really enjoyed them.

INGREDIENTS:

150 g dark chocolate

100 g soft pitted dates

115 g raspberries

100 g coconut cream (hard part of canned coconut milk)

50 g melted coconut oil

3 tbs maple syrup

75 g grounded oats

50 g almond meal

Optional: beetroot or aronia powder to roll in

METHOD:

Melt dark chocolate using a double boiler (a heat-proof bowl that you put on top of a saucepan with simmering water). At the same time, place dates, raspberries, coconut cream, coconut oil and maple syrup in a food processor and process until blended. Add grounded oats and almond meal and process again to mix all the ingredients. At this point, chocolate should be completely melted so remove the bowl from the heat and leave to cool down a bit. Add previoysly prepared mixture in a bowl with melted chocolate and stir until there are no any lumps and everything is mixed together. Then cover the bowl with cling film and leave it to set in the freezer for about an hour. When it has hardened enough so you can shape it without difficulties, scoop out a teaspoon of the mixture and shape into a ball, then roll in a beetroot or aronia powder. Repeat until you use all the mixture. You can store truffles in a fridge or a freezer. If you keep them in a freezer, take them out 10 min before eating so they soften up a bit.

Garlic & Thyme Sweet Potato Sticks

Soft on the inside and crispy on the outside, these sweet potato sticks are on of my favorite snacks. When served with some kind of dip, they can actually be a pretty satisfying meal as well. Probably best thing about these is that there’s no frying involved so no need to worry about those calories. When it comes to seasoning, you can really go with what you prefer. I kept it simple this time, but sometimes I like to make them more spicy by adding some pepper or smoked paprika.

INGREDIENTS:

350 – 400 g sweet potato

30 ml vegetable oil

2 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried thyme

2-3 tsp cornstarch

sea salt to taste

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Peel sweet potato and cut it in long sticks. In a large bowl, mix olive oil, soy sauce, garlic and thyme. Add sweet potato sticks and coat them evenly with oil mixture. When covered, place them on a baking tray, leaving a bit of space between each stick. Sprinkle the sticks with cornstarch (I did this using a small sieve to make it easier) making sure all sides are covered. Bake for 20 min, then gently turn to the other side and bake for another 5-10 min. When done, sprinkle with sea salt and serve warm. They go very well with hummus or avocado dips.