Vegan, Quick, Easy & Healthy Date and Almond Truffles & Chocolate, Cashew Truffles
The first thing we cut when we are eating healthily are sweets and chocolates. So I looked at a replacement that could satisfy your sweet tooth but also nourish your body. A fantastic recipe for vegans and vegetarians, placed into a beautiful box they would make a wonderful edible gift over the festive season.
There isn’t anything new about Date & Nut truffles they go by many names, Deliciously Ella calls hers Ultimate Energy Balls, others call them Perfect Protein Energy Balls, Date & Nut Balls and a few call them truffles.
When you are trying to get children to eat something they ordinarily wouldn’t, you turn a broccoli into a tree, you make a smilie face out of the vegetables they don’t like. So my tactic is to offer truffles as a sweet treat instead of processed chocolates. I am hoping my Date & Almond Truffles and Chocolate Cashew Truffles will help hit the sweet spot between satisfying a craving for sweets and nourishing our bodies with goodness.
I have made energy balls in the past but they never got the family’s rubber stamp. I was over complicating the flavours. My family don’t like chai seeds or any other additions. So I have stripped back the recipes and used what I had in the house.
Almond and Date Truffles
The first truffle I made was with 100g almonds blanched in hot water for 30 minutes and 200g of Mazafati dates from Iran (you can use any fresh dates you can find). The two ingredients were blended in the food processor until the mixture was blended into a mass of gooey goodness.
The second truffle was one that I was attempting to get as close to a chocolate flavour as I could. This one uses cashew nuts and cocoa powder (I used Green & Blacks Cocoa Powder) which wouldn’t make them vegan but it was what I had.
The texture of the truffles are very soft as they have no ‘almond flour’ or coconut oil to make firm them as they are cooling. I rolled the mixture in not so healthy options:
Green & Blacks Cocoa Powder
Green & Blacks Drinking Chocolate Powder
Whittards White Chocolate Powder
Milo Powder
- 100g almonds blanched in hot water for 30 minutes and drained
- 200g fresh dates pitted (I used Mazafati dates from Iran).
- Blend the almonds and the fresh dates in a food processor until the mixture has blended into a mass of gooey goodness.
- Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
- Form into balls and roll into cocoa powder, coconut or a variety of drinking chocolate powders.
- 200g fresh Dates, pitted (I used Mazafati Dates)
- 100g raw unsalted Cashew nuts
- ½ teaspoon vanilla paste
- 3 heaped tablespoons Raw Cocoa Powder
- 1 tablespoon Maple Syrup
- Add the cashew nuts to a bowl and cover the nuts with boiling water.
- Allow the nuts to soften for 15 minutes.
- Drain the water and recover with fresh water for another 15 minutes.
- When the nuts have been soaked drain and add them to a food processor.
- Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth and the pieces of the nuts are no bigger than 2 mm.
- Scape the mixture out of the blender and place in a bowl.
- Cover and refrigerate the mixture.
- Roll the mixture into small truffles and serve as is or roll in desiccated coconut.
