If there's one thing I've learned while being Paleo, it's that chocolate is just as popular in the health-conscious Paleo community as it is outside of it. And when you're eating a super healthy diet full of colourful vegetables, meat and fish, you totallydeserve a treat from time to time.
While sweet things don't play a massive part in my diet any more, I still crave them with my after dinner cup of tea and the odd few squares of dark chocolate usually does me. Sometimes though I like to make something a little more decadent to enjoy - but I still keep it healthy. These fudgy, chocolatey truffles are perfectly indulgent but you'll still reap some health benefits.
Brazil nuts are choc full of saturated fat (the good kind!) and the important antioxidant, selenium, which is lacking in many people's diets. Selenium helps protect against heart disease and also supports thyroid gland functioning, among many other benefits. Hazelnuts are a good source of omega-6 fat, vitamin E and thiamine while maca powder can boost energy, libido and fertility with its array of amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals.
These truffles are sweetened naturally with medjool dates and raw honey. The medjool dates add the lovely, fudgy texture and you can play with the honey quantity to adjust to your desired sweetness (for some, the medjool dates will add enough sweetness). For the chocolate, I recommend using 70% or more dark chocolate and check the label for any nasty ingredients. Finally, unless you're a serious chocoholic, these truffles are rich enough that you won't have to worry about polishing off the entire lot in one go. Perfect for whipping up a batch to see you through the week!
Brazil & hazelnut chocolate truffles
Makes 10-12 truffles
Ingredients:
1 cup brazil nuts
½ cup melted dark chocolate
¼ cup chopped hazelnuts
4 medjool dates, pits removed & soaked in boiling water to soften
3 tablespoons raw cacao powder
2 tablespoons maca powder
1 tablespoon raw honey or maple syrup
1-2 tbs coconut oil, melted
Method
1. Place brazil nuts, medjool dates, maca powder, cacao powder and raw honey in a food processor and blend.
2. Stream in melted coconut oil until the mixtures comes together and can be rolled into balls.
3. Melt dark chocolate in a glass bowl over a pot of hot water. Roll the mixture into balls. Using a fork, dip each ball in the chocolate to cover it halfway and set on parchment paper.
4. Sprinkle chopped hazelnuts on the truffles and allow to set at room temperature (or if the room is warm, place in the fridge for 30 minutes).
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article