FESTIVE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

I've had a lovely week, it was my birthday and I was spoilt rotten with flowers, chocolate and Prosecco, three of my favourite things!
I have to admit the after effects of too much chocolate and wine are not great but sometimes worth it!  

So I thought I'd share one of my favourite healthy chocolate truffle recipes. These truffles are delicious, pretty much free of everything bad for you, incredibly quick and easy to make. In fact they are so delicious it's hard to believe they are packed full of healthy ingredients.
They are a perfect wee sweet treat to end a meal, and make a fabulous last minute Christmas gift for a health conscious friend.!

These truffles are vegan so dairy free, contain no saturated fat or added sugar.  All the sweetness comes from the dates and coconut, both natural ingredients with health benefits.

I love dates, they are deliciously sweet and although they are fairly high in sugar, they more than make up for it with the dazzling array of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre, supporting health on so many levels.
The walnuts and sunflower seeds add protein, fibre, minerals and omega 3 fats so these truffles can definitely be enjoyed guilt free!

Medjool dates are the king of dates and are sweet, caramelly and moist and are always my first choice. Deglet Nour Dates are also delicious. Lidl are selling them for £1 a bag just now and they are also pitted which saves you precious time!  It's well worth having a few bags on standby. Some of the dates are really quite dry and need to be soaked before you can use them and they are never sweet or sticky enough, don't buy them!
You really need a food processor to make these. The dates need to be blitzed to a paste, although I guess at a push you could use a hand blender. Dates are so sticky though you would have to do it in batches and blitz the nuts and seeds first. Always make sure there are no stones in your dates, that could wreck your processor. Another point to note, for those of you lucky enough to own a Vitamix, don't use it for dates! They are just too sticky and there was a horrible burning smell from mine when I tried it
You have been warned!
If you have any sweet superfood powders like lacuma or maca, you can add a spoonful to up the health benefits even more. Chia seeds are also a good addition!
These truffles are best kept in the fridge to firm them up. I'm not too sure how long they will keep, ours are always scoffed within a few days, but I guess they would be fine for a week or so!
 
Preparation: 30 minutes
Makes: 20  bite size truffles
 
Ingredients

• 240g  pitted dates, Medjool or Deglet Nour
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder plus more for coating the truffles
• 4 tbsp desiccated coconut
• 50g sunflower seeds (if you don't have sunflower seeds just double the quantity of nuts)
• 50g walnuts or any other kind of nuts

 
Method

1. Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until well mixed
2. Take spoonfuls of the mixture and shape into bite size balls.
3. Coat the balls in cocoa powder or desiccated coconut
4. Put in the fridge to firm up for an hour or so
5. And enjoy :)

.                         ......your health in your hands......