Dairy Free Chocolate Truffles!

These insanely delicious dairy free chocolate truffles are also soy free, gluten free, nut free and vegan. You’d never guess they’re allergy friendly! This was one of my favorite recipes to create, and they are so simple to make. All you need is coconut cream and allergy friendly chocolate, plus whatever you want to roll these babies in. Do yourself a favor and use a small cookie scoop with a squeeze handle for easy release. It’s not necessary, but definitely very helpful.

I use Trader Joe’s canned “Coconut Cream” for this, but you can use regular full-fat canned coconut milk. Just refrigerate the can(s) and be sure you don’t shake them up before opening. Scoop out and use the solid cream on top, leaving the coconut water underneath for another use. (Smoothies would be good!)

This recipe only makes about 25 truffles – it’s a small batch because I can’t be trusted around a lot of these! If you want to make a large batch, use a ratio of one part coconut cream to three parts chocolate.

These are easy to make once you get the hang of it – read the Tips section below before you get started, so you can learn from my efforts! The directions are long only because I wanted to be as descriptive as possible. They really come together quickly!

Dairy Free Chocolate Truffles

2 cups allergy-friendly chocolate (I use Enjoy Life’s chocolate chunks)

2/3 cup coconut cream (the canned stuff, not the drink)

Tiny baking cups (optional)

Optional topping/rolling ingredients: cocoa, unsweetened shredded coconut, powdered sugar, sparkle sugar, and/or safe candy sprinkles.

Heat coconut cream in a stainless steel saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring often, just until it starts to simmer and steam. Remove pan from heat.

Add chocolate to the pan and let it sit for 15 to 20 seconds. Then use a small silicone spatula or a metal whisk to stir in small circles, starting in the middle of the pan, until the chocolate melts and emulsifies with the cream. As it gets smooth and glossy in the middle, continue working outward in bigger circles to mix all of the two ingredients together. Continue just until everything is emulsified and smooth – do not overmix.

Pour the mixture into a shallow glass pan or bowl and let it cool at room temperature for one hour. Resist the temptation to put it into the refrigerator immediately as that may cause separation or grittiness. After an hour, cover the pan/bowl and place it in the refrigerator. Check it every 15 to 20 minutes or so until the mixture is firm but not hard. You want it to be pliable enough to mold into balls which will hold their form, but not be too soft.

Meanwhile, prepare whatever ingredient you want on the outside of these truffles. You can roll these in unsweetened shredded coconut (as pictured), cocoa powder, powdered sugar, candy sprinkles (make sure they are allergy friendly!), or anything else you can think of. Place each topping in a small bowl, set aside, and get some spoons handy for rolling the truffles in the topping.

When the truffle mixture is firm enough, use a small metal cookie scoop or melon baller to scoop it out and make a small ball. (See first tip, below.) Drop the ball into the topping bowl, and use a spoon to roll the ball around in the topping. Use the spoon to take the truffle out and place it in a small paper baking cup. (You won’t bake these – the cup is just for presentation!) Repeat until you have used up all the truffle mixture.

Tips:

To make the truffle into a ball, I scoop the cookie scoop with one hand and use my fingers of the other hand to round out the part sticking out of the scoop to make a sphere. If you want perfectly round spheres, you can roll the balls in between the palms of your hands, but that becomes very messy very quickly! I sacrifice perfectly shaped truffles for the sake of time and much less mess. You may want to try spraying your fingers with cooking spray to help.

If the mixture softens too much while scooping (as it may in warmer weather), place the bowl back into the refrigerator to firm up.

To get the topping to really stick to the truffle (especially when using shredded coconut), roll each ball in the topping immediately. If you let the truffle balls sit for a while before rolling them in the topping, they may not be sticky enough to hold much of the topping.

Alternatively, if you like candy melts or want to use tempered chocolate or a similar melted coating to dip the truffles in, then roll the truffle balls and refrigerate them before dipping in the coating. Candy melts (also called candy coating) typically contain milk, soy, and sometimes gluten, so I do not use them.

If you use cocoa or powdered sugar for a topping, be sure to sift it first. You don’t want any clumps messing up the appearance of your truffles!

Use a spoon and not your fingers to roll the truffles around in the topping. Your fingers will likely be chocolaty from scooping the balls, and you don’t want the topping ingredient to get muddied from the chocolate on your fingers.

I love the look of unsweetened coconut on these truffles, but liked the taste of powdered sugar the best. If you use powdered sugar, you may want to coat these a second time if the first coating doesn’t look so white.

I store these in the refrigerator. These are soft enough that you can serve them right out of the ‘fridge – they do not need to come to room temperature first.

Finally, enjoy these dairy free chocolate truffles with wild abandon!