Here's My Heart Chocolate Cherry Truffles

If you have a small heart-shaped cookie cutter, you can transform your favorite truffle recipe into a special Valentine treat.  To make these, I adapted the Chocolate Cherry Truffle recipe from Quick-Fix Vegetarian to include bits of toasted almond and some cherry preserves. The truffles on each end in the photo are uncoated; the one in the center is coated with finely shredded unsweetened coconut.  I've included my recipe adaptation below, with instructions for making both heart-shaped and round truffles. The recipe is very flexible -- as are most truffle recipes -- use more or less of any of the ingredients to get the texture and flavor you prefer.

I plan to post a couple more Valentine's Day ideas between now and Tuesday, but in the meantime, check out my heart-shaped Red Quinoa Loaf on One Green Planet  -- (you can also see it on the Huffington Post).  And if you're in a location where watermelon is available, you can make some watermelon hearts with sweet mint pesto from a previous post.

 

Here's My Heart Chocolate Cherry Truffles

If dried cherries are unavailable, use dried cranberries.  Adapted from Quick-Fix Vegetarian by Robin Robertson (c) 2007, published by Andrews McMeel.

1/2 cup dried cherries 

1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds

2 tablespoons cherry preserves

1 tablespoon almond butter 

1/2 cup high-quality unsweetened cocoa 

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Coating of choice: cocoa, crushed toasted almonds, toasted coconut, or melted vegan chocolate

Combine the cherries and almonds in a food processor and process until finely chopped. Add the cherry preserves and almond butter and process until smooth.  Add the cocoa and confectioners’ sugar and process until well combined.

For heart-shaped truffles: Transfer the mixture to a sheet of waxed paper, film wrap, or parchment on a flat work surface and flatten evenly to about 1/2-inch thick. Top with another sheet of waxed paper, film wrap, or parchment and use a rolling pin to flatten evenly to about 1/3 inch thick.  Remove the top paper and refrigerate or freeze until firm. 

Use a small heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut the truffle mixture into heart shapes and arrange on a plate. Refrigerate to firm up again, if needed.  Roll the remaining scraps from the cut-outs into balls (for a few round truffles) and refrigerate.

For round truffles: Shape a small amount of the mixture into a ball, rolling with your hands into a 1-inch ball.  Repeat until the mixture is used up.   

To coat truffles: Place the truffles on a shallow plate containing cocoa, coconut,  almonds, or melted chocolate.  Roll the truffles in the coating to cover completely. Transfer to a plate and refrigerate until firm.