Decadent Dairy-Free Mint Truffles
Last week I eluded to some upcoming recipes for these …
New Dairy-Free & Gluten-Free Chocolate Dream Chips! Yum!
And the fact that some of this was heading our way …
This is after day 1 of the storm at our house. Much more hit the ski hills of Tahoe!
This is actually a winning combination for me, as it gave me the chance and motivation to make loads of these …
These babies are rich, sweet, and so, so, SO easy to whip up! Trust me, they are a simple way to impress any chocolate fan around the holidays. Plus, you can customize them. As you can see, my favorite were the Peppermint Crush …
But, you may be like my husband and prefer the simple cocoa and powdered sugar dusted …
Another great thing about homemade truffles is that you can make them any size you want. Roll some jumbo-sized to dazzle family and friends, or roll little bite-sized ones as you attempt (in vain, like me) to exercise portion control through the holidays.
The new Chocolate Dream Semi-Sweet Baking Chips were deliciously flawless in these truffles. These chocolate chips aren’t listed on their website yet (only the bars), but you can buy them in stores – they even had them at my local grocer. Here is a picture, so you know what I’m talking about …
The Chocolate Dream Chips are a touch sweeter than the brand of chips I normally buy, Trader Joes, but that makes them perfect for these truffles without any added sugar (yes, of course I nibbled on several chips while making these!). Plus, these babies are made on dedicated dairy-free equipment! You heard me right … these semi-sweet gems get their own little piece of the factory away from all of the milk chocolate. They are also gluten-free, and tested to less than 5ppm for both milk and gluten. Sorry, as a dairy-free diva, I get a bit overly excited whenever a company goes above and beyond on the food allergy front. Back to those truffles …
Semi-Sweet Mint Truffles – 4 Ways
This recipe is Vegan, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Nut-Free, Soy Protein-Free (this brand of chocolate does have soy lecithin), Wheat-Free, and almost healthy. I said almost!
- 1/4 Cup Coconut Cream (see directions)
- 8 Ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (or dark if you prefer), approximately 1-1/3 Cups (as mentioned, I used those dairy-free Chocolate Dream Chips – blue bag)
- 3/4 to 1 Teaspoon Peppermint Extract (to taste)
- 1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Optional Toppings: Crushed candy cane, powdered sugar, melted semi-sweet chips, cocoa powder.
First things first, lets get some coconut cream. You can actually buy coconut cream in a can or aseptic package at many stores, or you can just skim the cream off the top of a regular (not light!) can of coconut milk. Grab a can, and don’t disturb it. Do not shake, stir, or otherwise emulsify the contents of the can. When you open the can, it should look somewhat like this …
See that nice thick cream on top. It should scoop out nicely. I usually get about 1/2 cup of cream per can (just enough if you opt to double this recipe). Underneath is a watery coconut milk. You can reserve that for using in some other savory meal or sweet baked goody.
Okay, now that you have the cream, melt the chocolate. I’m lazy, I just fire the chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals (usually just two will do it), virorously whisking in between cycles to get a smooth consistency. You can go the fancier way and melt it with a double broiler if you wish though. Once the chocolate is nice and smooth, stir in the coconut cream, mint extract, and vanilla extract. The cream may be a bit lumpy, just whisk until it all smooths out. Place it in the refrigerator to chill for several hours.
Once it has firmed up, scoop and roll into balls – whatever size you like. The chocolate will be firm, but it does soften a bit at room temp, so I like roll each of the balls (to coat) in one of the following:
- Cocoa Sugar Combo – Sift together equal parts cocoa and powdered sugar.
- Melted Chocolate – Melt some more chocolate chips with a touch of shortening or coconut oil. Dip the balls to coat, and place them in the freezer or fridge to set up.
- Peppermint Crush – Place a little candy cane in your spice grinder and whiz until powdered / crushed (just takes a few seconds). Note that the Peppermint Crush exterior can get a bit sticky over time, so this version is best served fresh. For a similar idea that stores better, try the Peppermint Crunch …
- Peppermint Crunch w/ Cocoa – This is another favorite; when you scoop out some of the chocolate, press it into some of the crushed candy cane, and then mush it together and roll into a ball so that you end up with wee crunchy peppermint bits throughout. If you don’t want a super mint rush, you can just do the peppermint crunch and reduce or omit the mint extract. Roll in cocoa powder or cocoa/sugar to coat.
Makes a boatload of truffles … I don’t know, maybe 4 or 5 dozen?
Blog Events:
- This recipe has been submitted to the Gluten-Free Holiday: Gifts of Good Taste event at Tasty Eats at Home.
- This recipe has been submitted to Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays at Simply Sugar & Gluten Free.
47 thoughts on “Decadent Dairy-Free Mint Truffles”
I love this! It looks so easy. I’ll have to try it out this season. I’ve never tried separating the cream from coconut milk but there’s a first time for everything.
These look amazing!!!! I’ve never used coconut cream either!!
oh yes, what a perfect way to pass the time while it’s snowing outside 🙂
I’ll take one of each please. Thanks.
ooooh xmas is so near!
These truffles look terrific, I love your choices for coatings. I will have to look for those chips!
Oh. My. Gosh. Holy truffles! These look ridiculously amazing.. and SO simple. I love the rolling ideas. I’m really surprised how easy it really is. I’m a fan of the visuals too. 😉
Way to take advantage of that weather! Brrrr!
mmmm how delicious do those look? I like the minty ones- there is something about chocolate and mint that go so well together. Snow?! Craziness. Stay warm over there
sending you sunshine from maui! those truffles look amazing. i like the idea to use just the cream from the top, i think i will copy that! i have been stockpiling chocolove bars in the house for a month now, trying to find time to make truffles similar to these ones. i have a recipe for coconut/spicy/yerba mate balls that i am excited to make. peace, andrea
Andrea – those sound awesome! Hopefully you will share those on your blog!
Those look so good! I love baking when its cold and snowy out! (still hate winter though!)
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! I’ve never made truffles because I grew up only seeing recipes for the cream-based kind (and I am, of course, supposed to be dairy-free too), and then of late all the dairy-free recipes I’ve seen have used coconut butter, which is beyond my budget right now.
Thank you so much for this accessible, budget-ish-friendly truffle recipe! Now I just have to track down dairy-free chocolate chips in Canberra…
I love the use of coconut cream in these! I only ever see truffle recipes with dairy-free cream cheese. Thanks for the recipe!
Portion control, it seems a never ending battle at coming in to Christmas time. I love the look of the truffles with crushed candy canes, they look great.
Your snow looks amazing too!
YUMMMMM!!! those truffles look AMAZING!!! I woke up this morning and it was snowing here!! I couldn’t believe it!!!
BTW–thanks for the tip on the cashew cream cheese!! I am going to make it for the holidays next month so I have more time to let it sit! Can’t wait!!!
happy Thanksgiving!
Omg these look fabulous! I will be linking these in a fudge post I am doing in a couple days…ironically i JUST made someone else’s recipe or I would have made these…oh wait, I still can. haha 🙂
Happy TG Day! Hope you and the hubs had a great day!
They most certainly do look ultra-decadent and would definitely dazzle! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, Alisa. (And I can’t believe that SNOW!) 😉
I’ve been seriously craving some mint chocolate lately and damn. I am so going to have to make these ASAP.
These look so pretty and sound delicious! 🙂 Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Each & every one of your truffle creations sounds fabulous!
Yikes – I’m so not ready for snow. But these look good enough to make me forget that white stuff.
Absolutely beautiful! I hope you enjoyed those slopes!
You are so my kind of girl Alisa! I love the idea of rolling them in crushed candy canes! My 4 year old would love these! You make it look so easy.
Oh Yeah! I’m so glad you figured this out. I have Enjoy Life chips that I hope will work for this. I always keep cans of coconut milk in the refrigerator in case I might want whipped cream! This will be perfect for truffles or fudge.
Thank you Alisa!
Cant wait to try them! I thought I had to miss out on the Truffles this year. I never thought of using coconut cream.
The coconut cream can be hard to find. I buy it from the Asian Market.
ALISA. These look utterly amazing!
OMG i love the candy cane variety! These look great. Thanks for linking to GF Holiday!
Well first of all your pictures are absolutely adorable and second of all I never thought I would see the day when I was tempted by a vegan truffle.
Yikes – I’m so not ready for snow. But these look good enough to make me forget that white stuff.
I’ll have to keep my eye out for Chocolate Dream chips. I usually use Enjoy Life or a dairy free Ghiradelli. These truffles look fantastic.
awesome idea! so easy 🙂
Those truffles look good! What a perfect treat for the holidays!
I made these, and I also tried to adapt and make chocolate peanut butter ones… however the filling is hard now that I took it out of the fridge! what should I do, let it sit or nuke it?
Robin – Yes, you should be able to remelt it in the microwave, but do it slowly (15 to 30 second intervals just until it softens or melts enough for you to stir it smooth again). You can sub peanut butter, but you will need to thin it. When using nuts, I usually add at least an equivalent amount of liquid (say 1/4 cup per 1/4 cup of peanut butter, or even a bit more), which could be in the form of water, milk alternative, etc.
Love these! Thank you!
I’ll take one batch of peppermint crunch with cocoa please. 🙂
What a great looking GFCF whipped topping–yummers! 😉 I have a quick question though. We have kiddos here w/heavy metal issues, hence the GFCF diet. So we do not eat any canned goods. Could I sub in So Delicious Coconut milk mixed w/some Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream Concentrate? (I don’t think the milk has enough fat in it by itself.)
If so, any idea what ratio of milk to cream concentrate I should use? :O I have no idea, but hope you do! My little one has her b’day party this weekend, and I would love to make your whipped topping using coco milk mixed w/cream concentrate.
Many thanks and great work–keep it up!
~Robin
Hi Robin, just use the coconut cream concentrate. You need the thickest cream possible, and adding any So Delicious would make it far too thin. I’m not even sure if the Tropical Traditions is a thinner coconut “cream” or nice and thick like the cream you skim off from coconut milk. If it is thinner, then you will want to add more powdered sugar, coconut oil, or other thickener to get it to firm up. But in theory, the coconut cream concentrate should work as an even swap in this recipe.
Oh, and I hope the b-day party is fun!!
I really appreciate this recipe. As my step father has rheumatoid arthritis, and anything he eats effects his health.. so he is basically on a dairy free, gluten free diet .. and I will be making these for him to go with a christmas gift, I’m sure he will love them. Thanks so much 🙂
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