When I first made these raw chocolate covered truffles I literally melted with delight. The first bite was a soft, sweet, rich, melt in the mouth chocolate covered deliciousness.
It’s hard to imagine so much from such an easy recipe with only 5 ingredients. Yet, using good quality organic ingredients (including raw homemade chocolate) makes the these raw vegan truffles quite divine.
The best things in life don’t always have to be difficult at all. If you don’t want to cover them with chocolate, then it’s even easier – simply roll them in desiccated coconut or ground nuts instead.
These raw chocolate covered truffles are actually healthy!
Healthy? Say what!?
Nutritionally speaking, these raw vegan truffles are little power-packed nourishing treasures.
They are full of protein, essential fats, antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins.
The flax seeds and walnuts in the recipe are both omega 3 superheroes. Omega 3 is excellent for heart health, brain function, managing cholesterol levels, and digestive health. It is often lacking in the human diet (whether conventional or plant-based).
What ingredients go in theses raw vegan truffles?
A couple of the noteworthy ingredients in this recipe…
Flax seeds are an amazing source of omega 3 essential fats.
Flax seeds also contain up to a whopping 800 times more lignans than other plant foods. Lignans are not only known for their helpful antioxidant properties, but they also have powerful estrogen qualities, making them very supportive for hormone health.
Flax is also an excellent high fibre food.
Walnuts contain a plethora of beneficial nutrients, including rare antioxidants and phytonutrients, that aren’t normally found in other foods.
They contain phytonutrients such as the tannin tellimagrandin or the flavonol morin (very rare, with invaluable antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties).
According to WHfoods… “These anti-inflammatory and antioxidant phytonutrients also help explain the decreased risk of certain cancers—including prostate cancer and breast cancer—in relationship to walnut consumption.”
Walnuts are packed with vitamins and minerals
These healthy nuts have excellent levels of copper (with key roles in tissue support, bone health, energy levels) and manganese (important for bone production, skin health, and blood sugar control).
Walnuts also have remarkably high levels of the antioxidant vitamin E, in the form of gamma-tocopherol, which has been shown to be particularly beneficial cardiovascularlar health.
How do you make raw chocolate covered truffles
It’s actually quite easy to make these raw vegan chocolate covered truffles once you get the swing of it. Let’s quickly look at each step involved (and see recipe below).
Stage one…
- The first step involved soaking our dates in water to soften them. Soaking for at least an hour should soften them enough for blending.
- Next, after draining them, we blend the dates along with the walnuts, vanilla and ground flax. A hand blender or food processor works best for this.
- The next step is to roll them into teaspoon sized balls.
- And following that, we pop our naked walnut truffles in the freezer. Freezing helps them rapidly firm up and also chills them so that the chocolate coating will quickly set when you go to coat them.
Then we make a batch of homemade chocolate (check out making home made raw vegan chocolate page for recipe). Alternatively just buy a bar of healthy chocolate instead and use that.
Stage two…
- We need to melt the chocolate and then take the balls out of the freezer.
- Then we take each ball individually on a spoon. We need to drop them into the melted chocolate and then turn around with the spoon until evenly coated with chocolate.
- Once coated with chocalate we then drop back them onto the plate. If the balls and ceramic plate were chilled in the freezer, the chocolate should quickly set.
Stage three…
Finally, we place our raw chocolate covered walnut truffles back into the freezer for 10 minutes to set firmly. They serve well right out of the freezer or fridge whenever you are ready. Yummy!
OK, let’s get to the recipe. If you are choosing the home-made chocolate option, then check out my chocolate making recipe page (with a handy step by step video guide) here.
Raw chocolate covered truffles
A deliciously healthy, soft, sweet, chocolate covered walnut truffle recipe.
Ingredients
- 100g pitted dates (approx ¾ cup)
- 100g walnuts (approx ¾ cup)
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 75g (approx) homemade chocolate or shop bought (2¾ oz)
Instructions
- Prepare ahead by soaking your dates in water to soften them. Soaking for at least an hour should soften them enough for blending. Alternatively use pitted medjool dates and miss out the soaking period altogether.
- Once soaked, drain the dates thoroughly to remove any excess moisture.
- Blend the dates with the walnuts and vanilla extract using a hand blender or food processor, until you achieve a thoroughly blended consistency. If you like things to be a bit rustic, then you can also leave it a little chunky.
- Once you have blended the mixture, add the ground flax seed in, either using the blend, processor or by pressing in with a spoon.
Roll your truffle inside bits into balls, then freeze
Make a batch of home made chocolate (check out making home made raw vegan chocolate page for recipe)
...or buy a bar of chocolate from the shop
- If you are making chocolate from scratch then keep it at the ‘melted stage’ in the heatproof bowl. Alternatively, melt a pre-purchased organic, sugar-free bar of chocolate by placing a heatproof bowl into a pan (on the cooker) with about an inch of hot water in it; breaking into chunks and allowing it to melt.
- When the chocolate is ready, take the balls out of the freezer.
- Take each ball individually on a spoon. Drop into the melted chocolate. Turn around with the spoon until evenly coated with chocolate and then drop back onto the plate. If the balls and ceramic plate were chilled in the freezer, the chocolate should quickly set.
Freeze your chocolate covered truffles to set them quickly
- Place these back into the freezer for 10 minutes to set firmly. They serve well right out of the freezer or fridge whenever you are ready.
Notes
If you have extra chocolate left when all the balls have been coated, then you can either coat them with another layer, or set into a mould and get a couple of extra little chocolates.
Homemade vegan chocolate using coconut sugar as the sweetener…
Vegan Easter chocolate recipe ideas…
Pin raw vegan chocolate covered truffles for later…
Helpful resources:
Health info about walnuts: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=99
Health info about flax seeds: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=81
OH! I’m loving the looks of these too! Can’t wait to try them 🙂
Oh yes, a real treat 🙂
Would rolling them in desiccated coconut be fine instead of the chocolate?
Desiccated coconut would work fine, especially if you pop them in the fridge before serving. They are designed to have a softer centre than the usual energy balls, so be liberal with the coconut and it should be fab.
I’ve tried these last night. They’re delicious! ♥
Fabulous – delighted to hear that Macaroonzi!
I’d like to make these! How long will they keep for?
They should keep for months in the freezer – I would say a couple of weeks in the fridge.
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Thanks so much Trinity. I love these!! Simple, healthy and DELICIOUS.
Delighted to hear that you love these Jo.
x