The combination of sweet, creamy, and bitter is absolutely mind-blowing in chocolate truffles. That’s an explosion of flavors in each bite and the best chocolate treat to bring along with my 2-ingredient fudge and vegan gingerbread on your platter of vegan Christmas cookies. Classic chocolate truffles are not vegan, they contain butter and heavy cream. But don’t worry, you don’t have to miss out on truffles this Christmas. Plus, these vegan truffles make amazing homemade holiday gifts, along with my vegan peanut butter cups, vegan buckeyes, or homemade hot chocolate mix All together, they are the best vegan gift for friends and family.
Why You Will Love These Vegan Chocolate Truffle Recipe
Just 3 ingredients Dairy-free Gluten-free Low-carb option
Ingredients and Substitutions
Three ingredients is all it takes!
Vegan Chocolate Chips – The secret of high-quality chocolate confectionary, vegan or not, is the choice of the chocolate. Poor chocolate chip quality leads to untasty desserts. For the truffle, I am using a semi-sweet, Premium Belgian chocolate button made with 54% cocoa. They are dairy-free but semi-sweet, which makes the chocolate truffles not too bitter. Feel free to use darker chocolate chips for a dark chocolate truffle or sugar-free vegan chocolate chips for low-carb truffles. If you use chocolate tabs, finely chop the chocolate before melting. Vegan Cream like soy cream, canned coconut cream, or thickened cream. Coconut Oil or Vegan Butter I am using unrefined coconut oil, it doesn’t add a coconut flavor to the truffles Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (optional) or cacao powder, to roll the truffles. Or, if you are using this recipe for Valentine’s Day, try rolling in freeze-dried raspberry powder to add a lovely red coat to the truffles.
Making Vegan Truffles
Rolling Vegan Truffles
Mistake To Avoid When Making Vegan Truffles
Picking cheap chocolate chips. Good quality chocolate chip ingredients should be made from cocoa mass and cocoa butter, then vanilla and sugar. If your chips list sugar as the first ingredient, it’s fair to assume they are low in cocoa, and the truffles won’t taste very good. Refrigerating the batter for too long. Some recipes call for overnight refrigeration. This is way too long! Especially if you use coconut oil that firms up in the fridge faster than vegan butter. The best time is 1 to 2 hours. Check often and start rolling the truffles when you can handle the ganache by hand. Not being prepared. Rolling truffles is messy, and your hands will be covered with chocolate ganache as it melts when you roll. Therefore, having a bowl of cocoa powder ready to roll the truffle is a must. Also, working next to the sink helps as you can wash your hands if needed. Using milk instead of cream. Many recipes call for coconut milk instead of vegan cream. While full-fat coconut milk from a can works, not all plant-based milks are equal. For example, a carton of dairy-free milk – like oat milk, or almond milk – won’t work, they are basically water and they won’t form a creamy ganache for truffles.
Expert Tips For The Best Vegan Truffles
Beware of Vegan Cream Flavors. Coconut cream has a potent coconut flavor that turns the truffles into a coconut chocolate truffle flavor. We love this combination, but if you don’t pick low-flavor cream like soy cream or lentil cream. Know your fat. Vegan butter makes smooth and creamy truffles, while coconut oil makes the truffles a bit harder. If you use coconut oil, bring the truffles to room temperature for 1 hour before serving for the best texture. Play with flavors. Chocolate truffles can be flavored with peppermint extract, vanilla extract, or almond extract. Add 1/4 to 1 teaspoon, depending on the strength of your extract. Stir the extract in the melted chocolate mixture to flavor it. Then, play with toppings, rolling in desiccated coconut, chopped roasted peanuts, or vegan shaved chocolate. Work with cold hands. The batter is melting quickly in your hands. I like squeezing a cold bag of frozen strawberries to get my hands cold before rolling. This prevents the ganache from melting in my hands. Also, refrigerate the baking sheet on which you release the vegan truffles to prevent them from melting.
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