Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Cocoa Walnut Truffles - A Valentine's Treat

This is one of those rare recipes that you just can't believe is actually good for you, and it is simple.
Walnuts, Dates, Cocoa...end of story.

I owe the discovery of this recipe to my mother's recent infatuation with raw food. She ingeniously took a raw brownie recipe and turned it into truffles. The tiny bite sized portion is just right for this rich (but still healthy) treat!

Cocoa Walnut Truffles -
An easy, fun treat to make for your Valentine's sweetheart, or sweethearts.

1 1/2 cups Medjool dates
2 cups Walnuts
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (raw cocoa or regular cocoa)
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
+ 1/3 C cocoa for rolling truffles







  1. Remove pits from dates. Put dates in a bowl and cover with warm water for 5 minutes.
  2. Chop nuts in a food processor until fine. Place in a bowl.
  3. Remove dates from bowl and reserve water. Place dates in the food processor with cocoa, vanilla and a pinch of salt. Pulse until mixture is smooth. Add a spoonful or two of reserved date water if the mixture is too thick to blend. Add walnuts and pulse once or twice to incorporate.
  4. Using a teaspoon or very small ice cream scoop, portion the mixture into small scoops on a piece of waxed paper. Roll the balls between your hands gently to form a smooth ball. Quickly toss each ball in the cocoa. Place truffles in tiny muffin papers if desired. Store in an air tight container.

These truffles make a wonderful gift, or a nice treat at the end of a special meal. 
Truffles will keep well for several weeks. 

7 comments:

  1. Hi Tagan,
    They look delicious and there are so many ways to make them. It is also nice when the walnuts are left a little larger, in chunks like in brownies, and then blended in at the end.

    I can imagine them rolled with coconuts, almonds, cashews, with and without chocolate, and with lemon, or almond flavoring...you can just go on and on. The date base gives you so many choices.

    Thanks, Alida

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  2. Tagan, Inever know what to choose under profile. All the porfile selections confuse me. What do I put if I just want to be me? I am putting this here because maybe other people are as clueless as me. Alida

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  3. Very cool! Amazing to make sweets out of only healthy things. I love dates, they taste like candy and caramel just the way they are. Thank you for another great idea, Tagan (and your mom)!

    Alida, if you just want to be you, then choose Name/URL. You can leave the URL blank. :)

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  4. Tagan,
    What a great day for me to find this! I gave up sugar for Lent and am craving something sweet. Yum. Now off to figure out where to find these dates here . . . .
    Grazie,
    --Holly

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    1. Hey Holly, so glad that you happened upon this! hope life in Italy is going well!!! Try a middle eastern shop for dates...gotta be one somewhere no?

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  5. i tried this out and they were sooo good. thanks tagan! also my friend was just talking about how she made amazing raw brownies that sound very similar to these truffles -- http://mynewroots.blogspot.mx/2011/04/raw-brownie.html

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    1. Thanks Isadora!! SO glad that you liked them!! I checked out the New Roots blog, it is great! Thanks for passing it on! This truffle was a brownie recipe, that we turned into a truffle...just a little cuter.

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