If chocolate is your THING but you’d love to cut back, I may have a solution for you!
Making your own chocolate truffles! Using whole food ingredients your taste buds will have a party. Yet you cut out processed fat and sugar.
What never seems to work for me is cutting out things without replacing them with something similar yet healthier. Especially when it comes to chocolate.
In the past, I’d go crazy for milky bars and would be able to finish a few large ones in one sitting! So as I caught myself increasing my daily dose I wanted to get this love for chocolate under control.
First I switched from milk to dark. Yes, that itself took me couple of weeks, perhaps even months to get used to. Over time however I even got hooked on 80% dark chocolate low in added sugar (about 25% Kcal from sugar).
The chemical cocktail of theobromine and caffeine with sufficient amounts of processed fat and sugar still made it a perfect food to binge on.
So I started to make my own chocolate truffles for an occasional treat.
They still give me a kick but at least it’s from natural foods 🙂 Will you give them a try too?
These truffles are made from oats, dates, coco powder ……. and BEANS. Yes, beans!
I love to add them as they balance the sweetness of dates and help with sugar spikes.
Particularly if your blood sugar is all over the place, beans help to keep your hands and head levelled.
For 20 truffles you’ll need:
- 1/2 cup white beans (I used cooked cannelini salt and sugar free drained from any liquid)
- 8 – 10 dates (use more if going for a sweeter taste)
- 1 handful walnuts (about 2 tbs)
- 1 cup oats (I used quick cooking)
- dark coco powder unsweetened for rolling (about 2 tbs)
- I use standard dates from a local supermarket like Lidl or Tesco. Take out the amount you need, make sure there are no pits and wash them first. Then if soft enough put them in a food processor together with walnuts and beans and process until smooth. It may require a drop of water to make the processing easier.
- When a paste is created add 3/4 cup of oats and mix until well-combined. The mixture should stick well together to form balls. If it seems too liquid or mushy, add the rest of oats.
- Make balls and roll them in coco powder in a separate bowl.
- Serve chilled.
I usually make them with my kids or other company around. This guarantees there won’t be too many left for me 🙂
Because yes, it’s still easy to eat them all as they are super tasty. That’s why I recommend you to make them after you had dinner or lunch. That way you are less likely to go all “crazy”.
And even though you are replacing usual milky, sugary and fatty bars with wholesome ingredients, they still pack calories and having a few as a treat is just enough.
Enjoy and let me know how you liked them!
Cheers to you and a delicious way of living 🙂
Lenka
