Raw chocolate covered walnut truffles - with excellent omega 3 health benefits

• Vegan
• Gluten free

• Produce

  • 100 g Dates, pitted

• Baking & Spices

  • 75 g Chocolate, homemade
  • 1 tsp Vanilla extract

• Nuts & Seeds

  • 1 handful Desiccated coconut
  • 2 tbsp Flax seed, ground
  • 100 g Walnuts

Found on trinityskitchen.com

Description

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
• A handful of desiccated coconut

Directions

• 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 into teaspoon sized balls and pop on a ceramic plate, placing them into the freezer whilst you make the chocolate covering. Freezing helps them rapidly firm up and also chills them so that the chocolate coating will quickly set when you go to coat them.
• 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.
• 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.
• Note: 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.