I had no idea when I chose ‘Heavenly Holiday Truffles’ as the theme of the December Sweet Adventures Blog Hop that I would become obsessed with turning EVERY FLAVOUR EVER into a truffle.
Seriously.
A google-machine search on ‘truffle’ renders the expected chocolate versions, but the same search on Pinterest reveals the most stunning variations you could ever imagine and sends the imagination into overdrive.
No doubt the purists will shout and stamp their feet, insisting that truffles should only consist of dark chocolate melted in cream, rolled and dunked in more chocolate or dusted with cocoa powder.
They may allow slight variations for the addition of a complementary flavour or a dash of alcohol — Cointreau and orange zest, Frangelico and a few hazelnuts, rum and coconut, Chambord and raspberry jam, brandy, chilli, mint, almond, ginger — but pumpkin or choc chip cookie or red velvet would send them into a tizzy.
However I’ve never been one to follow the rules.
I can’t wait to see what everyone else has come up with this month for SABH — traditional chocolate or off the wall magic — no doubt I’ll want to make them all!
Oh, yeah, when I made these I divided the base mixture in half and made another version (with photos that are so much better than in this post) dressed up with ginger and cocoa for Christmas.
Raw Vegan Salted Caramel Truffles
Try to resist eating the filling mixture straight out of the processor. I dare you.
Makes 40 small truffles
INGREDIENTS
- 1 c cashews, soaked 4 hrs
- 1/4 c coconut oil, melted
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 150 g dates, pitted
- 1 tsp sea salt, or more/less to taste
To decorate
- Bitter Chocolate Shell, liquid but cool (see recipe below)
- Coconut Butter, melted but cool
- Sea salt flakes
METHOD
Process soaked cashew nuts to a paste. Add lemon juice and coconut oil and process until very smooth. Add dates a few at a time, blending until you have a very smooth mixture.
Stir through sea salt to taste and refrigerate mixture until firm/roll-able.
Spoon out teaspoons of mixture, roll into balls and place on a baking paper lined tray. Freeze 15 minutes or refrigerate 1 hour.
Use two forks like a cradle to dip cold truffles into chocolate shell or coconut butter and shake off excess. Place back on baking paper, quickly sprinkle a bit of sea salt on shell before it hardens and repeat with remaining truffles.
Alternatively, don’t coat the salted caramel filling with anything and simply sprinkle with a bit of sea salt.
Store truffles in refrigerator.
vegan // vegetarian // gluten-free // dairy-free // soy-free // refined sugar-free
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Bitter Chocolate Shell
Yet another variation on Chocolate Magic Shell from here and here. This version is thicker to mimic melted dark chocolate.
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 c cocoa or raw cacao powder
- 1/4 c coconut oil, melted
METHOD
Mix ingredients until smooth. Use to coat cold Salted Caramel Truffle filling.
vegan // vegetarian // gluten-free // dairy-free // soy-free // sugar-free
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Sweet Adventures Blog Hop: How to link-up
The December Halloween theme hop is open for linkup until 11:59 pm, Friday 20 December [AEST Sydney time].
- Add a link to this post somewhere in your post – You won’t be able to link up in the hop without a ‘backlink’ to this hostess post included in your post.
- Click here for the Thumbnail List code – Copy the code and add it to the bottom of your post in HTML view.
- Click here to Enter the Hop – Make sure to do this step so you appear in the list too! Add the link to your SABH post (NOT your homepage). Your entry will be submitted when you click ‘crop’ on your photo.
If you have a question or aren’t sure of something don’t hesitate to ask. For more information detailed instructions can be found here.
Remember, SABH is open to all food bloggers but only new posts published after the hop goes live can be linked up.
Sweet Adventures Blog Hop is brought to you by 84th & 3rd and monthly Guest Hostesses. Follow on Twitter: @SweetAdvBlogHop and Facebook: /SweetAdventuresBlogHop for new hop announcements and general deliciousness. Thanks for joining SABH!
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Yum! You just can’t beat salted caramel. 🙂
I’m not quite sure if my recipe this month technically falls under ‘truffle’! I had the idea as a result of your theme, but if it’s not truffley enough, I’ll pull out of the hop.
Chocolate filling in a chocolate shell in bite-size pieces – sounds perfect to me ;D thanks for joining!
Salted Caramel truffles? Well who’s going to say no to that!
My feeling exactly Tina!
I’m afraid mine aren’t strictly truffles… (not round in shape)I thought this might be okay because of the fat skinny elvis truffles… if that’s not okay, I can try something else instead.
I’m sure they will be perfect Alison! Mary (look at #2 on the link list) did hers as little cups. As long as it’s in-spirit it’s all good ;D
Thanks! 😉
My thumbnail seems not to be showing up on the blog hop list; any ideas why?
I love truffle and I could never say no to salted caramel!
These look great and so good for you I could totally justify eating half a dozen, right?
I love salted caramel in any form and these truffles look and sound delicious!! Yum 🙂
Great minds JJ. I’m working on a salted caramel truffle too but mine is proving beyond difficult. Maybe I should have followed your lead and gone raw 🙂 These look fantastic, and I am loving your chocolate shell variations.
Yum! No need to tell me they’re impossibly good. I can see that for myself!
JJ these photos are beautiful so I’ll look forward to the others and you’ve totally sold me on salted caramel. For the first time ever an idea popped into my head the second I saw the theme. Looking forward to sharing it later in the week!
There is absolutely no way I could resist eating most of this before it even got rolled into balls. Looks DELICIOUS.
Oh JJ, how absolutely gorgeous! May I have one now, please?
They look spectacular! I love everything about them.
Yum!I could easily gobble a couple of lines of these. Lovely pics.
Such lovely looking truffles. I am sure I would eat a whole plate
nutty, chewy, salty-sweet goodness can’t wait to try these JJ 🙂
What does ‘c’ mean in the recipe?