I have been asked by many people how to make raw chocolate truffles. It is no secret that people love chocolate. Just the word arouses passionate responses from young and old alike. What better gift to give yourself and your friends than a treat that not only delights, but is also made from healthy ingredients! I once heard it said that desserts are the gateway to raw food. Why not open the door and give some of your non-raw friends a taste how good healthy raw desserts can be! Don’t tell the until after they have eaten them. They will be truly surprised!
The basis of this raw chocolate is Cacao Powder. Cacao is super-rich in antioxidant flavonols. The antioxidants in cacao are highly stable and easily available to human metabolism. Cacao powder has more than twice the antioxidants of red wine and up to three times what is found in green tea. (Cornell University). These are just a few of the healthful properties attributed to Cacao.
Filling:
- 1 C Cashews, soaked at least 3 hours
- 1/3 C Agave
- 1 C dried coconut (non sweetened)
Place drained cashews and agave in food processor. Process until smooth. Add dried coconut and mix until well combined. A ball should form. Remove half the mixture and set aside. You will be making two different fillings.
Hazelnut Filling
- 1/2 C Hazelnuts, soaked for at least 3 hours
Add hazelnuts to the mixture that is still in the food processor. Process until nuts are chopped fine and mixture is well combined.Refrigerate for 1/2 hour.
Mint Filling:
- 1/2 t Peppermint extract
Add peppermint extract to remaining mixture and mix well. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour.
Assemble the Truffles:
Roll filling into 1″ balls. Place in freezer for 1 hour. While filling is setting up, make the raw chocolate.
Raw Chocolate:
- 1 C Raw Cacao Butter
- 1 t. Vanilla
- 3 T Coconut Oil
- 1/3 C Powdered Sucanat (finely ground in coffee grinder)
- 2 T Agave
- 7 oz. Cacao Powder
Melt cacao butter and coconut oil in dehydrator or over hot water. In food processor, combine melted cacao butter, coconut oil, agave and vanilla. Remove 1/2 mixture and set aside. Add 1/2 cacao powder and combine. Add sucanant and combine. Add cacao butter that was set aside and combine. Add remaining cacao powder, mix well. It should be quite liquid at this point. It will harden as it cools.
Assembly:
1. Take a filling ball and place a toothpick in it.
2. Dip it in the melted raw chocolate.
3. Holding the chocolate dipped ball over the chocolate, let the extra chocolate run off. Be patient and wait until it has all dripped off. You can slowly turn the ball while it is dripping to get better coverage.
4. Holding the chocolate covered ball upright, slide just the tip of a fork off under the ball, very carefully slide the ball onto a non-stick sheet. Repeat until all filling balls are covered. Place back in refrigerator to set chocolate.
Notes: Sucanat is not considered to be raw. It is made from the juice of the sugar cane. It is not a “processed sugar” and retains the highest nutrient value of the sugar cane (which is not exceptional, by the way).
{ 55 comments… read them below or add one }
Next Comments →
Holy Cow!! These are works of art, I can almost taste them looking at these photos! Also like the steps.
xo
Eco Mama
Oh my lord!! I want to lick the screen!! Is that weird? Well I do!
YUMMY! We love raw cacoa and truffles. : )
Seriously…You are a genius! I love your website. I always go on it and hope you have something new up. Thank you so much!
These look incredible Susan. Lovely as always.
Great take on the raw truffle! I make a similar recipe using almonds! They look and sound lovely!
What is Sucanat and where in a store might I find it? Also, is cacoa butter difficult to find? I found the cacao powder, but didn’t see the butter near it… maybe by the nut butters?
Thanks for this! Now I can feel good about making and sending treats to the neighbors!
There is a description of sucanat at the bottom of the recipe…check there. I get it at my coop. I think you will have to ask them where they have it. Cacao Butter most likely will have to be mail ordered. I am opening the store on the website this week…you will be able to find it there!
You read my mind. I’ve been making truffles all week. Thanks for the great new recipe to add to the repertoire!
When I first found your website I was really impressed. It looks like a professional website. I think that the items you make look amazing and your presentation is gorgeous. I have almost all of your recipes in my list of to do soon recipes.
Oh my! Those look positively decadent! I should make those as a Christmas treat for my family. That would be a really good way to show how tasty raw food can be.
Wow! It looks delicious! Can you use honey or coconut sugar instead of Sucanat? And if it’s okay to use more coconut oil or coconut butter instead of cacao butter since we do not have it in stock? Is 7 ounces cacao powder almost a cup? Thanks again! Merry Christmas everyone
Because you are making a hard chocolate…like a chocolate bar, I wouldn’t substitute more coconut oil. It is the cacao butter that sets it up. Also, I don’t think I would try the honey, completely different consistency. As far as the coconut sugar, I have no experience with it.
What a lovely presentation! This recipe look divine.
Oh, and I love coconut sugar by the way. It’s my preference over rapardura and sucanat.
I haven’t used cocnut butter either. Is it measure for measure? I have some- just havent used it. It should be healthier. Susan is it one cup before or after soaking? Thanks
You can not use coconut oil to substitute for cacao butter. Cacao butter is hard, like a brick. You will not get the same results. I also recommend measuring the cacao by weight.
Hi, I wonder how long they will last, do you have any idea? I was experimenting with truffles a while ago, and used very similiar ingridients, and they turned out really amazing, now I would like to make them more, as a christmas gifts for my friends, relatives etc, and I wonder how long they can last??. Do you have any idea also if they keep firm all the time in a room temperature? Many thanks, your blog and posts are incredibile:):)
Honestly, not being a food scientist, I do not know how long these will last. They stay hard at room temp but if you are going to keep them for a while, I would suggest refrigeration. Coconut oil has a very long shelf life as does the cacao butter.
Thank you:) From my trials, the ones with coconut oil melted pretty sooner than the other containing cacao butter. Maybe for making a christmas gifts I should avoid each one ( coconut oil & cocoa butter) and make them only with dried fruits and nuts. All the best!
Beautiful!
I’m sorry what a dope! I meant coconut sugar not butter. I have some but havent tried it yet. I did however try this lucious recipe today. Forgot to soak the hazelnuts so i did half with mint and the other half with cherry. Oh my word! Awesome! They were easy to put together and turned out looking and tasting great. The cherry ones brought bake memories fo chocolate covered cherries ( a special memory of Christmas since my Dad got all his girls a box every year). They are wonderful! How do you do it? Thanks a mil!
Beautiful recipe and photography… as usual.
Wow! These look amazing. Do you think I could make these with just agave syrup (no sucanat) or is the sucanat flavor necessary?
I have seen and made a few truffles out there, but these! They look to die for.
Sucanat is in powdered form (after putting through the coffee grinder) and agave is in liquid form. Big difference and I would be concerned as to what it would do with the consistency. Some day when I have money to burn, I will experiment.
Thanks for helping to inspire the following blogpost
WOW!!! Those look incredible. It just amazes me everyday the variety of recipes that are out there! Who wouldn’t want to go Raw!
These look so yummy! I love making my own raw chocolate too, but I used just agave or honey to sweeten and coconut oil. Yummy!
Sarah
These look really good! Could you use powdered Agave instead of the Sucanat?
I honestly don’t know…I have never tried it.
Dear Susan, I cannot find Cacaobutter arround here… Is there any alternative to Cacaobutter? I would love to make this truffels. I live at the moment in Spain and many ingredients are hard to find. Thank you very much!
Christine
Hi Susan, thanks for sharing the love
I’m wanting to try it out but am wondering at what point should I add the agave when making the raw chocolate?
Love and light
Luci
all recipes are wonderful!!! and all these pictures make me feel hungry
In response to the powdered agave vs. powdered sucanat, you could probably make it work, but keep in mind that you would have to most likely use less agave powder since it is almost entirely made of fructose. Sucanat, on the other hand, is closer to half fructose and half glucose, and fructose is, I believe, about 60% sweeter than glucose.
These look fabulous, by the way. I’m definitely going to be trying these puppies out this holiday season
I wanted to know if your chocolate Raw Hazelnut and Mint Chocolate Truffles
are in your Rawmazing Dessert Book?
Thank You!
Tracey
Hi! Does anyone happen to know if I can substitute the vanilla and Sucanat with liquid vanilla stevia? I’m new to raw and would love to know more.
Thank you!
Namaste,
Sheen
I like your recipes and I am just beginning to get started on the raw foods experience. I would comment on your raw chocolate recipe listed above. Cocoa powder is derived from roasted cocoa beans. It’s not raw so a person is just as well served using a high quality chocolate couverture. I am quite surprised by vegans and the raw foods crowd who don’t understand how chocolate is made. With every food there is always much to learn and chocolate seems to be very confusing for most people. Good chocolate is derived from a series of steps with 2 major steps being 1) fermentation, and 2) roasting!
Debra: If you look closley, we are not using Cocoa powder, we are using raw Cacao powder. Big difference. Raw cacao powder means the cacao has not been exposed to temperatures exceeding 116 degrees.
Low temperature processing retains the vital nutrients in the cacao powder. Heat-sensitive antioxidants, minerals and vitamins are optimally preserved when low temperature processing is used. The organic cacao beans are cold pressed into a paste and then pressed at a maximum temperature of 116 degrees to remove fats and oils. The remainder is cold-ground to produce the Organic Raw Cacao Powder. There is no roasting or fermenting.
Why don’t you sell these (truffles) for those of us who are salivating but too lazy to make them
? I would definately order mail order. Let me know if you ever decide to and thank you and bless you!!
Isabella
What a beautiful recipe…truly gourmet. I would use raw coconut sugar ground up, or date sugar for that fine dry powder that gives it a good consistency. I can already taste them! Yum
Good morning Susan,
I am making the truffles as i write and I see that in mentions coconut butter in directions, but not in the actual recipe. Am I just tired or is it not there. How much coconut butter???? Help I am ready to make chocolate for truffles.. Thank you! Jordana
We had a wonderful Tea Party and the Tart (Tomato) and the Truffles were great. I couldn’t get the Sucant ground fine enough. It all worked but the truffles didn’t look at perfect as yours, but everything was still a hit! Thank you for your beautiful, yummy recipes
Many many truffles does this yeld per batch?
Brook, Per batch meaning per flavor? Or for the whole batch? Probably around a dozen per flavor depending on how big you make them.
Hi Susan!
I love this web site, wow!
I have a batch of the Corn Kale Chips in the dehydrator and the Dried Cherry Chocolate Truffles
in the freezer and I want to make this recipe as well.
I do have a question about melting the cocoa portion of the recipe and wondered how to do it in the dehydrator as well as with the hot water.
Thanks and many thanks!
P/S: Ah!
I missed the raw cacao butter…now it makes sense!
Thanks again for an awesome site!
I’d love to try this recipe, but I don’t have a food processor. Would a blender or Vitamix work as well? Or do you have any other suggestions making them without a food processor?
Thanks!
It may be difficult to work with in a blender or vitamix. Maybe small batches would help.
Why the sucanat AND agave? is there a special reason? thanks for the inspiration.
x
Beth: for flavor and texture.
Next Comments →
{ 3 trackbacks }