Chili Chocolate Almond Truffles

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The rich sweetness of chocolate, the slight kick of chili powder, and the delicious crunch of almonds... what's not to love?

Warning: You're going to want to make these. I would advise trying to make them before a social gathering, so that you don't blink and accidentally eat them all. I also should warn you that you may inadvertently "taste test" far too many heaping tablespoons of the melted chocolate mixture. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Another warning... as I made these, I started singing a little song. The lyrics are simple, so you should probably join in: "Everyday, I'm truffling... Everyday, I'm truff-fa--fa--faling." <--There you go. Now you have an awful song stuck in your head. You're very, very welcome.

I made these for blogger book club this month. I hadn't spent much time thinking of recipe development for the group, so I had to kind of scramble the day before. I found a recipe online that looked pretty good, but I didn't have all of the ingredients, so it turned into a bit of an experiment.

This recipe is adapted from this Chocolate Chili Truffles recipe from Elana's Pantry. I love her recipes and would have followed it to a "T," except that I didn't have all of the ingredients on hand, so I had to improvise. Since I was bringing this to a book club where I know at least one person has a coconut allergy, I omitted coconut milk in exchange for almond milk (with almond extract already in the mix, I figured anyone with that allergy was already out!). Also had run out of agave, so I subbed honey for that. And had no finely chopped almonds (and no desire to chop whole ones), so I just subbed chia seeds there.

Chili Chocolate Almond Truffles

Ingredients... For Truffle Base:

• 2 cups Chocolate Chips
• 2 tbsp Honey
• 1 tsp Almond Extract
• 2 tbsp Chili Powder
• 3/4 cup Almond Milk
• 1 tbsp Chia Seeds

...For Truffle Powder:

• 2tbsp Cacao Powder
• 3 tbsp Chia Seeds
• 1/2 tsp Chili Powder

Directions:

1. Melt Chocolate using a double boiler or the microwave. I put it in the microwave for 90 seconds, take out and stir, then again for 30 seconds, and take it out and stir.
2. Add honey, almond extract, chili powder, chia seeds, and almond milk and mix well. If the almond milk is not mixing in with the chocolate, try heating it for another 30 seconds with all ingredients in the bowl, and then stir again.
3. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes, until it reaches a frosting-like consistenct.
4. Scoop into balls and place on parchment paper-lined sheet. Set aside.
5. Combine ingredients for truffle powder (Cacao Powder, Chia Seeds, more Chili Powder). 
6. Roll balls in truffle powder.
7. Serve.

10 Delicious and Healthy Fall Recipes

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Happy Fall! How many times have I said that already? You'd think I was an easily excitable person or something...

For those of you who followed me a year ago, I did a series of posts called The 12 Days of Pumpkin (you know, "On the first day of Pumpkin, my true love gave to me... 12 pumpkin fries, 11 pumpkin truffles, 10 cups of oatmeal, 9 golllldennnn cupppcakesssss!"). Anyway, while I work on some fall recipes for you, I decided to compile the best of fall...

Apples and Pumpkins, mostly. Because who doesn't love that?

Recipes are below, listed in order of the images here. Go buy a can of Pumpkin and a crate of apples. Go crazy. Go hog wild. Whatever they're saying these days.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes

Spicy Pumpkin Fries

Healthy Apple Pie in a Cup

Pumpkin and Walnut Oatmeal

Wasabi and BBQ Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Cheesecake Truffles

Whiskey Apple Cider

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Healthy Upside Down Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pancakes

Recipe | Thin Mint Truffles (OMG)

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Last week, the Girl Scout Cookies came in at work. I swear to you,the afternoon was a solid 4 hours of the battle of self control. Somehow, I managed to make it home with a full box of Thin Mints. I knew they wouldn't last long if I left them out...

But then a tiny voice in my head whispered... truffles. Any sort of truffle or cake pop seems to be the way to go lately. Nothing pleases a crowd more than a truffle made using one of their favorite ingredients.

Don't believe me? Try Oreo Truffles, Pumpkin Cheesecake Truffles, Carrot Cake Pops, or 60 calorie cake pops.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Truffles

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I'm a huge fan of Oreo Truffles but, unfortunately, they're not the healthiest dessert (hello, Oreos!). That said, ever since the first batch of Oreo Truffles, my friends and family have asked begged for more. After my 12 Days of Pumpkin project, with my pumpkin obsession still lingering, I finally obliged them -- sort of -- by making Pumpkin Cheesecake Truffles. 

These treats are rich, creamy, and moist, but are surprisingly low calorie (YES, can we get a round of applause for the low-cal element?!). The base, a pumpkin cake, uses no eggs, no oil, and no butter -- just vanilla cake mix (you can use sugar free if you would like to make it even lower in calories) and either canned pumpkin or pumpkin puree. By mixing in low fat cream cheese, we end up with a flavor akin to pumpkin cheesecake, without the fat-saturated ingredients. A delicious but very thin outer layer of vanilla candy coating tops off these delicious Pumpkin Cheesecake Truffles. I brought them into work and they were gone within minutes! :) Enjoy!

Bake time: 25 minutes 
Total time: 1 hour (this number will vary, depending on how long you let your cake cool for)

Calories per serving: 80-100 Calories (depends on which cream cheese is used, which cake mix is used, and whether pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin is used as the butter/oil substitute)

Ingredients:

• 1 box Yellow Cake Mix
• 1 can Canned Pumpkin (or 8 oz Pumpkin Puree)
• 8 oz Low Fat Cream Cheese
• 1 package Almond Bark (Vanilla)
• 1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil

Directions:

1. Peaheat oven to 350.
2. Combine cake mix and pumpkin and beat on medium until well mixed.
3. Pour into greased glass dish and bake for 20-24 minutes (if cake box says otherwise, follow those instructions), or until a toothpick comes out clean.
4. Set the cake aside to cool (I covered mine and set it out overnight so that it was cooled the following day).
5. "Mash" the cake. Using clean hands or a fork, break the cake into crumbly pieces and add the cream cheese, mixing well with clean hands.
6. Once the cake and cream cheese are mixed well enough that no white cream cheese is visible, roll into small balls with your hands (about 1 inch in diameter). Set aside.
7. Melt almond bark in a deep bowl (this will make it easier to coat the truffles). Begin by heating for 90 seconds, then stir. Heat at 15 second intervals, stirring in between, until melted.
   (If you would like to drizzle an additional colorful layer of coating at the end, set aside 1/8 of the candy coating).*
8. Add 1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil and mix well.
9. Using two large spoons, carefully drop each truffle into the melted coating and toss around. Remove and place on parchment paper to dry. Continue this process with the rest of the truffle balls.
   *If you set aside candy coating for drizzling, melt the leftover coating after the initial coat has dried. Once it has melted, add a few drops of Vegetable Oil and stir in a few drops of coloring. I used Wilton's icing coloring, so I swirled 3 toothpicks in the coloring and then the icing. Once this is well stirred, either drizzle using a fork or use a piping bag (or plastic bag) with a very thin opening.