I was at Bulk Barn last week to pick up hemp seeds and I left with various red and pink mini cupcake liners, dried cherries, red heart tins, hearts on a stick, and V-Day heart tags. You know, baking “construction materials”. Gag me. I tell ya, I embarrass myself sometimes. Oh, and I forgot the hemp seeds.
I don’t even remember what I wanted hemp for anyways.
It’s all about the dried tart cherries right now. They taste like fruit roll-ups…but better.
I rarely think to pair cherries and chocolate throughout the year, but once February hits, it’s all I can think about. I also like to add a touch of almond extract to take cherry recipes over the top. Almond extract brings me back to my childhood when I used to eat cherry almond icebox cookies around the holidays. There’s just something about the scent that is so comforting to me.
I decided to make a cherry truffle based off my Chocolate Macaroon truffles. The best part is you can freeze the truffles ahead of time. The worst part is, they taste best straight from the freezer.
So if you are like me and think, “oh if I put them in the freezer I won’t eat them all!”… think again. I’m not a miracle worker here.
A freezer will not stand in the way of a girl and her truffles! I wouldn’t stand for it.
[Despite my best efforts to be a food stylist, I just noticed the chocolate chips and cherries look a bit like rodent droppings on the dinner table. Now that’s romantic!]
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Dark Chocolate Cherry Walnut Truffles
Yield
23-24 truffles
Prep time
Cook time
Chill time
2 hours
Total time
Similar to my Chocolate Macaroon Truffles, but with a slight tart cherry flavour, hint of almond extract, and walnut crunch. To make the truffles, I soaked and blended dried tart cherries with a bit of sweetener (my immersion blender mini processor worked great for this) and folded it into the truffle mixture with a touch of almond extract. To dress them up for Valentine’s Day, roll the truffles in pink-dyed shredded coconut. Be sure to use a great tasting chocolate here for the best outcome.
Ingredients
- 1 cup walnut halves, finely chopped and toasted
- 1 cup dried tart cherries
- 2 tbsp agave nectar (or other liquid sweetener)
- 1.5 cups of your favourite vegan chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup full-fat coconut milk (use the cream from the top of the can)
- 1/4-1/2 tsp kosher salt, to taste (I used 1/2 tsp)
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
- 12 drops red food colouring
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F and toast the chopped walnuts for 12 minutes. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, soak the cherries in a bowl of water for about 10 minutes. Drain and add to food processor (or mini immersion processor like I used) along with 2 tbsp agave or other sweetener. Process until finely chopped.
- In a medium-sized pot, heat the chocolate chips over low heat, stirring as necessary. Add in the coconut milk and stir well. Add toasted walnuts, cherry mixture, and almond extract. Stir again until combined. Now add the kosher salt to taste. The salt should give the sweetness a bit of a pop. Add a touch more sweetener if necessary to achieve your desired taste.
- Spoon the truffle mixture into a bowl and place in the freezer, uncovered, for 90 minutes, stirring every half hour. After 90 mins, stir again and transfer bowl to the fridge for another 20 minutes until chocolate is firm and workable.
- In a small bowl, mix together the coconut and food colouring until pink. When the truffle mixture is firm enough to handle, roll into small balls (you can use wet fingers if necessary- it will be very sticky!) and then roll into coconut mixture until you have about 23 balls. Store in an air-tight container in the freezer or fridge (they will become very soft at room temperature). They should keep for a couple weeks in the freezer in an air-tight container. I like to place mine in a baggy first, then in a container, to prevent freezer burn.
Pack them up in a heart-shaped tin and you have yourself a bite-sized Valentine’s Day gift.
No hemp seeds required.
What can I do with the leftover coconut milk in the can? Thank you!
Hi,
Thank you for sharing this nice recipe. I can’t wait to give it a try. But dried tart cherries are not easy to find where i’m at. Can you suggest a good substitute? Many thanks!
dried cranberries?
OK I made these for Valentine’s Day, and they are AMAZING. Substitutions: I used non-vegan chocolate chips, honey instead of agave, and didn’t use the food dye. They were the best truffles I’ve ever eaten. Thanks, Oh She Glows! :)
Hi Angela! I just wanted to let you know that I made these last night as a Valentine’s Day gift for my boyfriend. They were so easy to make and tasted AMAZING. It’s taking all of my will power not to eat every one of them before I give them to him tomorrow. I placed them in Valentine’s themed mini-muffin liners just as you did….. what a great idea!!
You are so inspirational! I am not very gifted in the kitchen, but your blog and all of your fabulous recipes have sparked a love for cooking/baking inside of me that I never knew I had. Thank you for everything you do!! :)
aww so happy to hear that!
these truffles turned out awesome! i made the truffle mixture and refrigerated it overnight. i assembled the truffles the next day. i worked with small batches of the mixture, keeping the remainder of the mixture in the fridge. i formed about 6 truffles, washed and dried my hands, and then rolled them in coconut. this helped tremendously with keeping my hands as clean as possible. each truffle went into a paper, like Angela did, which helped with transporting them. The truffles were frozen overnight. i rolled some in pink coconut and some in cacao powder. they were a hit with coworkers and friends.
one suggestion: i wish the recipe had measurements in weight, not volume. my bulk barn sells walnut pieces, which i used to reduce the prep time. it took some experimenting to get the walnut ratio correct.
thanks for the recipe, Angela!
Angela! After reading this post last week I was bitten by the cooking bug and HAD to make these for my boyfriend this Valentine’s Day. I am happy to report that he LOVED them! I unfortunately couldn’t follow your exact recipe as he ditests coconut(so sad!) BUT i swapped cherries for grapefruit and drizzled white chocolate over the top ! Anyways thanks again for your inspiring posts!
So happy to hear that Aubrie!
Cherries and chocolates are my favorite combination. It can be a great idea to present it as a gift to someone special. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Looking gorgeous. I would like to present these types of truffles as a gift on Christmas, valentine or anniversary.
I made these for Valentine’s day for my classmates in college. They were a huge success! Everyone loved them. Well worth the effort. Very pretty in pink coconut too. You can roll them in cocoa or icing sugar as well. 5 stars!
How many calories are in these
These look yummy! Just attempting to find the calorie content. Thank you! 😋
Beyond incredible. Making a third batch today for a hostess gift. Top some with the coconut and others with freeze-dried strawberry powder bought on Amazon. I hope I don’t jinx anybody by saying this, including myself, this recipe is fail-proof and fun to make.
I made these as a Valentine’s Day gift and we both liked them a lot!