Cocoa Almond Truffles

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” These words are’t mine, but aren’t they true? Chocolate has got such healing powers you know. And now when festive season is around, chocolate is singing along with the harmony of the festive season, which led to the creation of these tiny joyous delicious truffles.

Initially, I thought of sharing the joy of festival by making some chocolate cookies for my friends and family. But then while talking to this sweet friend Charis last week, I got to know how she thoroughly enjoyed making chocolate truffles at home. The inspiration kicked in and I eventually ended up making these cocoa truffles.

Running short of enough dark chocolate at home and not having enough time to go buy it on a late Friday night, I wondered if these could be made without much chocolate or may be some alternative. Skimmed through the internet and my favorite blogs, I got this simple but delish recipe from JoyOfBaking.com.

It offered to use cocoa powder instead of chocolate and cream or condensed milk. Such a relief. And the truffles came out so nice after I kept them to age for 2 days in fridge, that you couldn’t tell a difference if they were made from chocolate or not. In fact, the rum added, kind of marinated the roasted nuts and cocoa powder and brought together the flavors very beautifully.

In case you want your kids to have them, feel free to use an equal amount of apple juice. Also, the nuts give you enough space to play around with the different flavors. You could also add some mint chips or some finely chopped candied peel as well. Try adding some warm spices like cinnamon, pumpkin spice, vanilla, whichever way you like it. You’ve got endless opportunities to play around and have fun!!!

Ingredients

150 gm toasted almonds/walnuts/pecans
125 gm finely crushed chocolate wafers {I used chocolate chip cookies}
60 gm icing sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup dark rum/apple juice

Toppings:

100 gm dark chocolate, chopped finely
30 gm white chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Crush the toasted nuts in a food processor, ensuring not to release their oil.
2. Mix all the ingredients except toppings in a large bowl and chill the batter for almost 1 hour.
3. Shape the batter into small balls of around 1 inch diameter and place on a baking sheet or a flat surface.
4. Melt the dark chocolate over a double boiler or in microwave for around 15 seconds.
5. Dunk each ball in melted dark chocolate to coat it all around. Fish it using a fork and let the excess chocolate drip down into the bowl.
6. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let chocolate solidify again.
7. Place white chocolate chips in a plastic zip lock bag and melt them in microwave for around 15 seconds.
8. Cut a snip on one edge of the bag and decorate the truffles as you like.