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.
I can’t wait to try these! I made the Chocolate Macaroon truffles for my family for Christmas and they absolutely loved them. Then I made them a week later for my friend’s New Year’s Eve party. This time I doubled the batch and then divided it in thirds. I added the coconut to 1/3 and rolled them in coconut, left 1/3 plain chocolate and rolled them in crushed candy canes and added peanutbutter to the last 1/3 which I rolled in cocoa powder. They were a huge success!!!
Glad to hear that Shanna! LOve the addition of PB too…great idea!
Oh wow.. they look great! I don’t think any thing could get in the way between a girl and her chocolate :)
As always these look delicious
Love the tins! I cannot tell you how many times I have gone to the store for something and gotten carried away with another creation and then totally forgotten the original something!!! Great recipe, as usual :)
I was thinking what a beautiful job you did arranging everything for your photos when you said “Rodent droppings,” I looked up at the photo and burst out laughing! Thanks for the great recipe! I always enjoy your posts!
These look great! Any suggestions for alternatives to red food coloring?
Amazing! That’s all that needs to be said.
I think my boyfriend and I know what we’re making for Valentine’s Day.
Didn’t even notice the “droppings”. But now that you mention them… Sketchie must be slacking on the job.
Ok. I see what’s going on here. I love your truffles in general and I convince myself that each time will be different when you have a different flavor and each time it’s not. I eat them. I eat them all. Darn you Valentine’s Day and your deliciously festive dried red cherries that would make such amazing truffles! That’s it, I’m goin’ in!
That happens to me every time at the bulk barn, I need one thing and leave with 10. I also have 3 within 5 km so I go there often. haha.
I am also a huge dried cherry fan. I am going to make these for sure!
HAVE to make these!! But I admit that I likely won’t be able to give these up as a gift… they look way too good… of course I’m craving chocolate right now… AND almond just makes it that much better. But I don’t have the ingredients right now. *sigh* (think I’ll go eat a few choc. chips in the meantime).
Holy truffles, batman! Those look amazing! Your food imagination always astounds me!
These look delicious, but you should try using beet juice for coloring instead of the artificial food coloring – beet juice tend to brown when cooking but I imagine it stays nice and bright if you use it without cooking like here. Haven’t tried, and probably won’t do it myself (too lazy to juice beets for this purpose), but if you do, let me know!!
yummy they look fantastic! I love the valentines day decorations too :)
haha I wouldn’t have thought they looked like droppings… until you mentioned it. Meh, there are worse things. Like your poo cupcakes. That was too great.
Bulk barn is very distracting. I usually have to do a little pep talk before I walk in – ‘You need chia seeds, raisins, and 4 protein bars. That is it. You don’t need flour, or coconut, or any more dried fruit. In, out, done.’ I could spend hours filling up my basket with unnecessary items!
Chocolate + cherry is one of my favorite combinations! These look heaaavenly. Thanks for sharing!!
Wowoweeee!
Angela, I love your workout posts and think you should include some more that focus on fitness!
Oh, my goodness! I stumbled across your blog not too long ago and I love it. You make everything look so delicious and easy to make. I can’t wait to try these truffles YUM!
Hey Angela, these look RIDICULOUSLY good! Can’t wait to try ’em. Can you recommend any good vegan chocolate chips? The ones I’ve been trying…have not been so great.
Oh, I’m a moron. You already answered this, whoops!
Hi Angela! I have a funny story. Years ago my sister sent me a champagne truffle cake which had a dozen glorious champagne truffles on top. I ate them all, of course, not once thinking of my husband. However, I stuck the cake in the freezer, thinking after making a pig of myself over the truffles, I won’t eat the cake until we can enjoy it together. Well, didn’t I go in there every day with my sharpest knife, and hack off chunks of that cake until it was all gone! Groan! Anyway, I got a good laugh from your commentary. A freezer doesn’t stand a chance!
LOL!!! We are soul sistas ;)