Paleo Almond Crusted Chocolate Truffles

Chocolate! I could leave just this single word and in my book, this blog post would be complete. I mean chocolate is kind of the perfect food. And no I'm not talking about that milky shit, I'm talking real, dark, intense chocolate. That in my opinion is the only one worthy of the name. While the other stuff of course tastes good, it doesn't have the je ne sais quoi dark chocolate has. 

Last week I found myself rummaging through the pantry looking for chocolate. I often lose track of that oh so glorious time of the month until my hormones go batshit crazy and I need chocolate like I need air. I can often be found sneaking in the pantry, eating chocolate chips by the handful. Not sure if it's psychological, physiological or cultural conditioning but needless to say, I'm usually a raging lunatic around that time of the month. Until fed some chocolate that is, then I become sweet as a purring cat. I kid - I can hear my husband roaring with laughter at that one. 

But anyway, I'm off topic. So here I was desperately trying to come up with something to make since I only had a container of cocoa powder on hand and truly don't think I would have gotten far had I attempted to eat that on its own. I had to quickly come up with something edible.

As if by some sort of chocolate divine intervention, a beam of light shone into the pantry and with voices sweetly echoing in the background, I floated towards the almond and coconut butter and hugged them to my bosom. I knew just what to make. Granted that it took me a bit to come up with the title but nonetheless, ladies and gents, I give you paleo almond crusted chocolate truffles. These things are seriously delicious and healthy - I mean, like actually good for you. There's no baking required and aside from letting the mixture cool for 15 minutes, these are ready to eat in about 20 minutes.

I used whole ingredients, like 100% cocoa powder, almond butter, raw honey, coconut butter, vanilla extract, cacao nibs and a dash of cinnamon. You could easily substitute cocoa powder for cacao. My trusty NutriBullet did all the work for grinding the almonds but I've used a food processor for keeping the almonds a bit larger and they're fantastic that way too. 

paleo almond crusted chocolate truffles

prep time: 10 minutes
chilling time: 15 minutes in freezer
yields: 22-26 truffles

Ingredients:

• ½ cup almond butter

• 2 tablespoon raw honey

• 4 tablespoon cocoa powder divided

• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

• pinch cinnamon

• 2 tablespoon coconut butter

• 2 tablespoon cacao nibs (optional)

• 4 tablespoon chopped almonds

Equipment: 

• food processor

• mixing bowl

• parchment paper

Directions: 

Combine all ingredients aside from 2 tablespoon cocoa powder and almonds. Once mixture is fully incorporated, chill in freezer for 15 minutes. 

Working quickly, roll chocolate mixture into balls and either dredge them in the chopped almonds or cocoa powder and set them on a sheet of parchment paper. 

Store the in an air tight container in the refrigerator.  

Yum