Spicy Chocolate Truffles
Once upon a time chocolate was my main event. I enjoyed it almost every single day. Oh…the raw food days of superfood living!I still love chocolate, but my enthusiasm for getting my hands dirty has waned a bit. Perhaps because I now live in LA with endless options everywhere for high-quality raw chocolate sweetened with the good stuff. I can walk over to Moon Juice to pick up a bar of one of my favorites, Substantial Chocolate made by Anandamide Pyschedelicatessen and even Whole Foods has some great local brands. Okay, we're spoiled. Not too long ago the wonders of raw chocolate remained undiscovered. A good chocolate truffle was hard to find much less a tempered bar of chocolate that was shiny and crispy just like the real thing! Raw chocolate often tasted muddy and bitter.I like to think of myself as one of the pioneers in the world of raw chocolate. I even coauthored a book on the subject—Raw Chocolate.The back story serves only to tell you that I have some experience with our favorite sweet.We're not tricking you when we say high-quality chocolate is healthy! It's heart-healthy, full of antioxidants, high in mood-boosting and calming minerals like magnesium, and may be beneficial to a variety of ailments. A few bites of chocolate daily is not only delicious, but very good for your health.Do we all understand that chocolate is not created equal? That most commercial brands of chocolate are full of sugar, weird 'solids' and soy? I hope so…even if you buy pure dark chocolate, it's still important to read the label. Chocolate should only have 3 base ingredients—cacao paste/cacao liquor/cacao mass (all the same thing), cacao butter and cane sugar or another quality sweetener. Soy Lecithin is very hard to avoid. It's used as an emulsifier in most chocolate recipes—and while we like to avoid soy, the quantities are minimal, so if that's the only other 4th base ingredient, you're in pretty good shape!Of course, ingredients like almonds, sea salt, cherries, and ginger can all be part of your flavor choice.And…because it's October and we know all about that Halloween basket...needless to say, it's full of junk, but we like to celebrate with the rest of them. So, have no fear!This recipe doesn't travel well, but it's super kid friendly—you can even get them involved in the making.Who doesn't love an ooey gooey chocolate truffle!? Yum.We've spiced ours up to make an adult version that is KILLER (but not really). It's an immune boosting, adaptogenic, mood-boosting, libido-boosting, chocolate cocktail of goodness.If you don't want to use the herbs and spices feel free to bump up the vanilla to make a version that suits your audience! SPICY CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES | Ingredients |
- 1/2 cup cacao powder
- 1 cup cacao butter, melted
- 1⁄2 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/2 cup date paste, or pitted dates
- 1 tsp vanilla
- pinch of sea salt
- 2 heaping tablespoons of Sun Potion Anandamide (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch of nutmeg
- Pinch of cayenne
- Pinch of sea salt
- Extra Cacao Powder (for dusting)
| Method |
- Blend all ingredients together until smooth.
- Chill for a few minutes to firm.
- Once mixture is semi-firm and malleable, roll into 1 tablespoon sized balls. Dust with cacao powder.
Makes approximately 2 dozen truffles.
