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.

Cocoa & Matcha Energy Balls

Energy balls were one of the first things I started to make to satisfy my sweet cravings when I changed my diet. Why? Because they are the easiest thing to do and because there are so many flavors you can play with. Also, you can easily switch and replace ingredients you don’t have like dates with figs, almonds with cashews etc. These are my favorite at the moment because I just love the combination of cocoa and matcha. If you’re new to matcha or find it to taste a bit special (I did in the begining) feel free to put less of it.

INGREDIENTS:

50 g almonds (or other nuts of choice like cashews or hazelnuts)

50 g oats

150 g soft pitted dates (if too dry, soak them in the water for 10-15 min)

50 g desiccated coconut

35 g raw cocoa powder

1 tbs matcha powder

2 tbs coconut oil

pinch of salt

METHOD:

Place almonds and oats in the food processor and process until grounded. Add all remaining ingredients and mix until everything sticks together. You should be able to squeeze the mixture between your fingers without it crumbling. If too dry, add just little bit of coconut oil and mix again to make it more sticky. Then simply shape the mixture into balls and place them in the fridge for about 30 min. This amount of ingredients will make around 15 balls.