Chocolate covered coconut & peanut butter truffles

I have a sweet tooth. Like a really, really sweet tooth and I can always find room for a little extra treat. I especially love homemade truffle-like balls! They are one of my absolute favourites. Unfortunally our food processor broke a while back and I havn’t been able to make them for several months (well, I guess I could have chopped them up by hand, but the result would not have been nearly as good). But now we’ve finally gotten around to buying a new food processor and I’ve already used it to make not one, but two batches of these super awesome chocolate covered coconut and peanut butter balls. I let Eva have a small taste of one of them before covering it in chocolate and her immitiate comment was “mmmmm”, while she quickly signed for “more”. Guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Recipe: Chocolate covered coconut & peanut butter truffles

These truffles are absolutely amazing with their chocolatey, coconutty and peanut buttery deliciousness. I always make a big portion and we always eat them way too fast. You really should give them a go. They might be high in calories and natural sugars, but they are so worth it. And since dates are also high in fibre, vitamins and minerals they are a great choice for a sweet treat.

You’ll need (makes about 40 truffles)

• 230 grams (about 8 ounces) shredded coconut
• 400 grams (about 14 ounces) of Medjool dates (they need to be soft and moist)
• 5 tablespoons of unsweetened cacao powder
• 5 heaping tablespoons of peanut butter (with no added sugar. I used crunchy, but smooth would work as well)
• 3 tablespoons of coconut oil
• a touch of Himalaya or sea salt
• 120 grams (about 5 ounces) of dairy-free chocolate (for coating)
• a few tablespoons of shredded coconut for topping

How to:

1. Remove the seeds from the dates. Most food processors won’t be too happy if you forget, so make sure you remember to get the seed out of all the dates.

2. Place all of the ingredients in a food processor and mix until everything comes together. 

3. Roll the mixture into balls. You can make them whatever size you like. I prefer them to be just a tad too big for one mouthful, so you have to bite it in half.

4. Pop the balls into the fridge for an hour or two. Just to harden them a bit before coating them with chocolate. If you’re impatient you could do it straight away, but with the risk of them falling a part easilier.

5. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and gently dip the balls into the chocolate. Use a fork to remove the balls and tap them gently to remove any extra chocolate.

6. Place the balls on a piece of parcement paper to dry. Sprinkle shredded coconut on top.

Tip: If you’re not using Medjoool dates or if your dates are just rather dry, place them in a bowl and cover with hot water. Let them sit for about 15 minutes before draining the water and voila, soft dates.

Store in the fridge in an air tight container for a few weeks. Not that they’ve ever lasted close to that long at our place, but they should be able to keep if you don’t have as big a sweet tooth as me.