Valentine’s Day | Soundbites Nutrition

Keeping it short and sweet today. Just like this recipe. A sweet, simple treat for Valentine’s Day. Or any day. Maybe every day? These decadent truffles taste like they came from a fancy chocolate shop but in fact require only four main ingredients and a bit of chilling time to make. Insanely rich, smooth and satisfyingly chocolaty, they will surely impress your sweetheart or whoever the lucky recipient may be.

I can’t say I always liked celebrating V Day. Totally jaded and turned off by the artificially manufactured saccharin sweetness of the whole thing made me indifferent at best. But I suppose over the years I have realized that celebrating anything in life is a good foil for the negativity and wretchedness of what goes on around us. The world needs more love. So why not honour it, even if it is with tacky cards and overpriced flowers. Better yet, with truffles. Double dark chocolate truffles. Vegan and easy at that. Make them and share them or hoard them for yourself. Love yourself. Love those around you. Love your family. Love life. And hey, love carnations too! They are in fact beautiful but for some reason have been relegated to the bottom of the barrel for far too long. I love you carnations. You complete me.

Don’t be scared of the long instructions, I’ve just included tips that that I have found helpful along the way. And here are some pictures to help you out as well…

Chilled bowl of ganache:

Scooped ganache chillin’:

Rolled and ready for some cocoa lovin’:

Sprinkled with cocoa:

Rock and roll time:

Double Dark Chocolate Truffles

Makes 16-18 truffles

Prep Time 30 minutes (total)

Chill Time 2 hours

Ingredients:

200g dairy-free dark chocolate chips (1 cup + 2 Tablespoons chocolate chips)*

125ml light coconut milk

1 Tablespoon (15ml) virgin coconut oil

pinch of sea salt

2 Tablespoons (30ml) cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Place chocolate chips in medium-sized bowl; find a plate that will fit over bowl to cover.

2. In a small saucepan combine coconut milk and coconut oil and heat over medium heat until just starting to bubble. Pour the hot liquid over the chocolate chips (don’t mix yet!) and cover with the plate. After about 2 minutes, remove plate add the pinch of sea salt and stir chocolate mixture. The chocolate chips should have melted in the hot liquid, but if there is still some unmelted chocolate, microwave in 15 second intervals until fully melted. You have now made ganache! Cover bowl with the plate again and refrigerate for about 2 hours, until mixture has firmed up.

3. Once mixture is cooled and firm, but still moldable, remove from fridge. Using a small ice cream scoop (a great tool for this part, mine holds just a little bit more than 1 Tablespoon), scoop out ganache, level off and turn out onto the plate that was covering the bowl. Repeat until you’ve used up all the ganache. The chilled plate helps to prevent the truffles from melting or becoming too soft. If you don’t have a small ice cream scoop, use a Tablespoon measuring spoon for this.

4. Now roll each ganache mound with your hands into an evenly shaped, smooth ball and place on a small rimmed cookie sheet or a shallow glass dish; line the cookie sheet or dish with parchment paper if you like. It helps to cool your hands under running cold water, then drying them thoroughly before rolling – this prevents the ganache from sticking to your hands. You may have to wash your hands once or twice during the rolling process if they become sticky.

5. Once all the truffles are rolled, scoop the cocoa powder into a small fine-meshed sieve and sift over the truffles. Next, roll the truffles around by shaking the cookie sheet or dish gently until the truffles are entirely coated. I’ve found this to be the most efficient way to coat the truffles in the cocoa powder.

6. Transfer the truffles into an airtight container and keep at room temperature for a few days or in the fridge for up to a week (if they last that long). Enjoy!

* I used Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Morsels; you can also use 200g of your favourite bar chocolate finely chopped. Choose good-quality chocolate as it’s the star ingredient!

If you do end up making these, share your creations on social media and tag with #soundbitesnutrition.

Have a lovely Valentine’s Day and eat lots of chocolate!

ilona

Anyone within earshot in the week leading up to Valentine’s Day heard me rant and grumble about how artificially sweetened and commercial I felt this holiday to be. Then my sister changed my outlook.

She said that any chance in life we get to celebrate should be embraced And, this is what really hooked me, she wholeheartedly felt that any holiday where the starring food was chocolate should not be tossed aside carelessly. Okay sis, I get your point. And I concur.

{I really do treasure these moments in life when a previously steadfastly held paradigm shifts.}

So celebrate with chocolate became my V-Day objective Now most years I would inhale whatever chocolate-like product crossed my path. But being vegan makes you a bit more mindful and aware of what you stuff your face with. Another bonus of this whole journey. So I set out to make some homemade treats. With good quality ingredients.

I consulted my go-to site, Oh She Glows, and chose two recipes. Chocolate Chip Cookies because I was craving these and Mini Peanut Butter Cups In a Jar because their inherent adorableness and unearthly combo of chocolate and peanut butter makes them incredibly irresistible. Go ahead, I dare you to try.

Both resulted in sweet, sweet heaven.

Mmm chocolate chip cookies and cold almond milk…

I devoured a few after the photo shoot. Ok, during as well. No regrets.

And these decadent pots?

Umm, yeah. I want a stash of these in my freezer at all times. I battled between wanting to hoard them all and sharing the love with my loved ones. I remembered my Kindergarten lessons and shared. Look at the delectable layers…

Note that I didn’t have the patience to swirl the melted chocolate evenly over the surface of the pots. So I drizzled. Can’t say my taste buds cared.

With the cookies I was pretty precise with the recipe and measured things out as outlined in the recipe; I always think of baking as a chemistry experiment, where you want things to be in the right proportions to get a good result. With the peanut butter and chocolate cups I was a bit more liberal. I really don’t have the patience to measure peanut butter in a measuring cup only to then have to scrape it all out. So I did eyeball a bit and was probably more generous with some of the ingredients. All turned out well.

You know you’ve got all-star desserts when both your veg and non-veg friends and family start asking you for the recipes.

I do encourage seasoned and newbie vegans alike to try these recipes out. You won’t be disappointed!

Much theobroma cacao love to you,

ilona

Soundbites Nutrition

Nourishing healthy appetites, one bite at a time. By Ilona Burkot, Registered Dietitian.

Tag Archives: Valentine’s Day

Double Dark Chocolate Truffles (Vegan)

Valentine’s Sweets