Silky smooth and intensely rich, these 3-Ingredient dark chocolate truffles simply melt in your mouth. Making them without cream or butter allows the pure, rich taste of dark chocolate to be the star of the show!
I have to confess, I’ve always had a sweet tooth. When I was younger, if you saw a bar of milk chocolate near me, chances are, it wouldn’t be there for long…
As I’ve grown older, I’d like to say I’ve risen above such sugary sweet temptations, but that simply wouldn’t be true.
In my quest for more balance in my life, I knew I wouldn’t be able to cut out all sugar completely (for me forbidding a food just creates a craving for it), instead, I try to monitor my consumption, reducing the sugar in a recipe whenever I can (as long as it doesn’t compromise on taste – taste always comes first!)
Over the past few years, I’ve been working to replace refined & processed foods with healthier, homemade alternatives. I cut out artificial sweeteners in my drinks. I even dealt with my full-sugar fizzy drink addiction once and for all.
Cold turkey quitting? One of the hardest things I’ve done, but so worth it <— proud moment alert!
One of the ways I’ve learned to satisfy my sweet tooth, is by retraining my tastebuds to prefer dark chocolate over milk.
Whereas previously that bar of milk chocolate would have been mindlessly eaten (I’m looking at you, family sized bar of Dairy Milk…) instead, by using a dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa solids, I find I need far less to keep my sweet tooth satisfied.
It’s taken me a while to appreciate the intensity of darker chocolate. I’ve not quite managed to fall in love with 85% yet – although I’m willing to keep working on it! – but in this recipe, 70% chocolate works beautifully (I used Green & Black’s 70% Organic).
Chocolate can be a temperamental ingredient to work with, and normally you don’t want to do anything to upset it (there’s a weird sentence…) as it might thicken up and seize. But in this recipe, by using this natural tendency, we can create a silky smooth ganache-like truffle without the need to add extra calories.
The recipe calls for adding a liquid (in this case, strong coffee) to melting chocolate to effectively seize it, before smoothing it back out and glossing it up with some maple syrup. The full depth and intensity of the chocolate shines through as there is no need for added butter or cream. Bonus? These truffles can be made vegan friendly by ensuring you use certified dairy-free chocolate.
If you want to serve these truffles in mini chocolate cups, as in some of the photographs, here’s how to make them:
Using a food safe paint brush, paint layers of melted chocolate (I used the same, Green & Blacks 70% cocoa solids) onto the inside of mini paper cases (these are the ones I used) chilling well between each layer.
I found I needed at least three layers to make them sturdy enough to handle. If you can find mini silicone cases this would be a lot easier, but I’ve had no luck finding any that small so far (let me know in the comments if you know anywhere in the UK that stocks them!)
It takes a little practice to get the hang of removing the paper from them, just make sure you take it slow. Using the point of a sharp knife, ease a flute of the paper away, then tear it off a piece at a time. Once I got it started, the paper would usually come off in two or three pieces. I found it best to remove the paper before filling the cups, so if I broke any I could simply melt them down and try again.
Also? Don’t try and pour the filling directly into the cups without cooling it down first. The heat of the truffle mixture will instantly melt a hole through the bottom of your carefully prepared cup and believe me, molten chocolate gets everywhere…dontaskmehowiknowthis…
These simple, 3-Ingredient dark chocolate truffles deliver an intensely rich, chocolate hit. You can’t really taste the added coffee, it just enhances the complexity of the chocolate flavour, but if you prefer you could swap the coffee for something else (matcha green tea, anyone?) or even replace some of the liquid coffee for a slug of something a little stronger…
Hmm, whisky dark chocolate truffles?…Yep, I know what I’m trying next!!
3-INGREDIENT DARK CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
Ingredients
- 200 g dark (70% cocoa solids) chocolate
- 6 tablespoons espresso coffee cooled to room temperature
- 2 and ½ tablespoons maple syrup at room temperature
- To serve:
- Sifted cocoa powder for rolling truffles in
- Optional : mini chocolate cups to serve in
Instructions
- In a medium bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, gently melt the dark chocolate (don't allow the water to touch the bottom of the bowl - burnt chocolate is never a good thing!)
- Once completely melted, take off the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. Add the liquid coffee and begin gently stirring with a silicone spatula. As the liquid is incorporated, the chocolate will seize and thicken.
- Add the maple syrup, a spoonful at a time and again, gently stir until the mixture is smooth, glossy and thick.
- Chill the truffle mixture for at least 45 mins - 1 hour. It will continue to thicken as it chills which will make handling a lot easier.
- Measure out a generous teaspoonful of truffle mixture at a time, and roll into a smooth ball in the palms of your hands. My mixture made 18 truffles at around 15g each.
- Roll the balls in sifted cocoa powder until well coated and store in the refrigerator until serving. I made some mini chocolate cups with the same dark chocolate to serve them in (see my notes in the post for instructions).
