I whipped up these delightful sweet treats several weekends ago. (My! How time flies!) I really do have a soft spot for chocolate and these are a great way to indulge my craving without any dairy or a large amount of added sugar. Plus the flavours are to die for!
Orange, ginger, cardamom, almond, cashew, hazelnut. They were all made to be blended with chocolate.
Luckily, these little truffles are also rich enough that you can’t eat too many in one sitting. And they are best shared with friends after dinner.
“What are the Traditional Chinese Medicine functions attributed to cardamom and ginger?”, I hear you ask. All is revealed here.
Choc-orange-ginger truffle recipe
Ingredients
- 50g blanched almonds
- 50g raw cashews
- 50g hazelnut flour
- 100g dried pitted dates
- juice of one orange (about 3 tablespoons)
- grated zest of one orange
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2-3 green cardamom pods, ground
- Uncrystallised ‘naked‘ ginger, cut into small pieces (1/2cm²)
- Additional hazelnut meal and dessicated coconut for rolling
Method
- Add almonds and cashews to food processor and blend until ground. Transfer to a bowl.
- Add dates to food processor and blend until they resemble a paste. Add dates to nut mix.
- To nut and date mix, add orange juice, orange zest, maple syrup, cocoa and ground cardamom. Mix into a thick paste. Add hazelnut meal gradually to make mixture a good consistency for rolling.
- Take two plates and to one add desiccated coconut, and to the other add hazelnut meal. These will be for rolling the truffles in.
- Take a heaped teaspoonful of mixture and roll into a ball. Insert a piece of ginger into the middle of each ball and roll until smooth on the outside. Repeat until all of the mixture has been used. Then roll each ball in either coconut or hazelnut meal.
- Chill until ready to serve.
For further information on Chinese Medicine contact Dr Sarah George (Acupuncture). Sarah is a practitioner of acupuncture (AHPRA registered), massage therapy and natural health at her Broadbeach clinic and is the Chinese Medicine Senior Lecturer at the Endeavour College of Natural Health Gold Coast campus.
