These are it! The perfect Halloween treat to nibble on while passing up all the other processed candies out there; trust me your waistline, health, and energy will thank you for it later. I love the mix of sweet, spicy, salty all wrapped into one and these Chili Chocolate Truffles have all that, and are made with less than 4 ingredients, and taste amazing, and have metabolism boosting properties, and…are just awesome.
Go-to Truffle Recipe
If learning how to make dessert Thai style has taught me anything, it’s all about balance even when it comes to dessert time. It’s important to balance out the spicy, sweet, and salty. Always adjust this batter to your tastes, for example, I leave out the maple syrup entirely because I love the bitterness from the dark chocolate, subtle sweetness from the coconut milk, salt from the sea salt, and heat from the cayenne. All of these flavor combinations plus the amazing velvety texture is sublime.
The base of this recipe is full fat (or you can use light) coconut milk, high quality dark chocolate, and chili. That’s it. Super simple. Chili, cayenne, and peppers in general are my favorite spices and metabolism boosting secrets. Chilies have been shown to increase metabolism slightly due to the heat production from the spice- studies have shown the effect of this lasting for 20 minutes after eating cayenne. Cayenne also has a host of other health benefits like relieving pain, cardiovascular benefits, fat oxidation, helps prevent ulcers. Again, due to the “warming” effects of cayenne, it stimulates the digestive system to release buffering juices which help protect the stomach lining from ulcer formation. If you have GERD, cayenne may irritate it, but this is an individual basis. Cayenne is a “warming” food which works to break up mucus and congestion in the body- a must have during cold and flu season. Fights inflammation in the body, mainly from the capsaicin which also inhibits a neuropeptide in the inflammatory process. Since cayenne works to fight inflammation it may be helpful for conditions such as arthritis, psoriasis, diabetes neuropathy, and other pain associated with these inflammatory conditions. I’ve talked, confessed, my love for dark chocolate and it’s health benefits as well as just tasting so good! In a nutshell, chocolate contains special molecules theobromine and caffeine which have been shown to help provide cognitive and cardiovascular benefits through blood flow and its antioxidant content. Does this mean we can eat chocolate all the time? No, but having a couple small pieces a day is just fine with me!
I encourage you to try out this recipe with so many other varieties just by taking out the cayenne or chili and using something else or keeping them plain. It’s a go-to truffle recipe you can pull out whenever you have guests coming over, want to make a little sweet treat for a friend, for the holidays, or any special occasion where you’re craving chocolate! They freeze well too which is a huge bonus when you want to make a large batch of these to keep for later. The mixture itself is very soft and melts in your mouth, so when scooping and making the mixture into truffles, I highly recommend using a scooper like mentioned below or popping this mixture in the freezer for 1 hour before rolling with your hands. Remember, coconut oil and coconut fat is saturated meaning it melt and becomes soft at room temperature- our hands are very warm so these will melt quickly if you use this process. If you need to troubleshoot- always pop them in the freezer.
- 10 ounces dark chocolate (80% or higher is ideal), chopped into small pieces
- 1/2 cup canned full fat coconut milk
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon maca powder, optional
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup, optional
- Optional garnishes: roll these truffles in cocoa powder, shredded coconut, and dash cinnamon, cayenne, and sea salt on top
- If using a microwave, add chopped chocolate and coconut milk to microwave safe bowl and heat for 30 seconds, take out stir, and repeat until chocolate is melted. Otherwise, gently heat the chopped chocolate and coconut milk in a small saucepan on low heat on the stove, stir until melted and smooth. Add sea salt to taste, an optional ingredient here is to add 1 tablespoon of maple syrup if you want the truffles sweeter.
- Pour this mixture into a bowl and transfer into the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours or until firm yet still pliable. Use a spoon to make 1 tablespoon balls, gently roll them into your hands and set on a lined dish with parchment, repeat with remaining truffle mixture. If you’d like to roll the truffles in cocoa powder, coconut, or anything else, now is the time to do it before placing truffles in the fridge for another 2-3 hours or overnight to firm.
- Serve chilled and store in the fridge for a week or freezer for up to 2-3 weeks.
Check out these other treats you can make this weekend for Halloween or in the spirit of the holiday season quickly approaching:
- Cocoa Covered Kale Chips
- Sweet Potato Cinnamon Truffles
- Crunchy Chocolate Seed Bark
- Black Sesame Coconut Ice Cream
- Turmeric Milkshake (the cutest story, a fellow NS reader commented about her daughter loving this recipe and calling it her Halloween Milk- cuteness overload, can’t handle it.)
- Assorted Raw Chocolates, Six Ways
My favorite brand of high quality chocolates: Alter Eco, Endangered Species, Madecasse Chocolate, Equal Exchange, Green & Blacks, Theo, DAGOBA, and Sweetriot. This is the coconut milk I often use as well. Helpful tools to make this process a bit easier: tablespoon scooper, truffle papers, and a box perfect for gifting these to a fellow chocolate lover.
What are your favorite truffle toppings or types? Let me know what you think when you give this recipe a go! Leave a comment and rate it. I love seeing what you come up with so don’t forget to take a picture and tag it #nutritionstripped on Instagram!
xx McKel
