If you’re anything like me, you often want chocolate…and you want it NOW! What you don’t want is lots of faff and time making it. Long and involved chocolate making can be lovely and creative some of the time, but when that chocolate urge is shouting loudly, SPEED is the name of the game.
Here is where this delicious and ultra-quick chocolate truffle mix comes in. It can be made with either cocoa powder or raw cacao powder, and the only other ingredients you need are coconut oil, which is of course very good for you, and a syrup as the natural sweetener. I mostly use agave syrup, but you could probably also use coconut nectar, maple syrup or honey if you prefer. (I tried it with sweet freedom once, but but it didn’t work that well taste-wise, though to be sure about this I need to do more experimentation). I’ve also tried it with yacon root syrup and it was fine if you’re used to the taste of yacon.
Because I make this recipe when I am needing to fill a little chocolate hole, and because it’s pretty rich, I don’t make it in large amounts each time, as you will see from the instructions below. You could try multiplying it up, but the one time I tried to do this, it didn’t work that well. It is amazing how this sometimes happens – logically, it should work if you make a recipe in bigger batches but with the same ratio between ingredients. In reality, it doesn’t always. One day, probably when I’m having a few people around, I will work out how to make it in larger amounts, but for now you will have to be content with these borrower-size measurements!
The beauty of it is that it is SO quick to make that I very often make a few batches a day, i.e. whenever I feel like eating some.
So, here it is:
LIZ’s VERY QUICK CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
2 (flat) Tbs cocoa or raw cacao powder
2(flat) tsp agave, or other syrup
1 tsp melted coconut oil
METHOD
1. Melt the coconut oil in a dehydrator, in a bain marie, over a nightlight in a food warmer (my preferred method) or over a very low heat on the hob.
2. Measure the chocolate powder into a bowl. Add the agave and melted coconut oil and mix everything together.
3. You can either eat this straight from the bowl or put it into the fridge to harden up for rolling into truffles. If I’m going to make truffles I will often add more chocolate powder and maybe a touch more agave to make a firmer mix. Once the truffles are rolled, coat them in chocolate powder and store in the fridge as this recipe melts easily.
You can get wonderfully inventive with this recipe, replacing some of the chocolate powder with raw carob powder (my favourite), and/or algarroba mesquite and maca powders. You could of course add some vanilla powder/extract, or replace some of the agave with coconut sugar. And we haven’t even got onto the subject of flavouring: for instance try this recipe with orange essential oil and mixed spice – it’s nice!
As you can tell, this is very much a recipe in evolution, but it’s too good – and too simple – not to share with you now.
Oh…and credit where credit is due, the inspiration for this recipe came from my very good friend Karen Churchill, who was the one who told me about how lovely chocolate powder, agave and coconut oil were together. She herself adds a little water to make a more mousse-like consistency. I’m more of a truffle girl myself, but why don’t you experiment and let me know what you come up with?
Recipe Copyright Liz Bygrave Sweet Sensations 2012
(Please note – you are welcome to share this recipe on your own site or blog etc, as long as you credit ownership and provide a link to www.sweetsensations.uk.com.)