These healthy dark chocolate avocado truffles are smooth, creamy, fudgy and absolutely yummy! Simple to make and very low calorie which is a great alternative to buying store bought chocolates for your loved ones, or even yourself.
Recipe Highlights
- Super smooth and creamy you'll barely know they are made from avocado
- Truffles make great Valentines and Holiday gifts
- Makes 23 delectable and rich desserts sized treats
- Decorate and personalize with a sugar free chocolate drizzle and diced pistachios
- Easy to customize with different flavours (suggestions below)
- These truffles are naturally sweetened with monkfruit so they are sugar free
- No need for a food process as avocados can be mashed with a fork
- They are no bake and set in the fridge, lasting for upto 5 days
- They are low calorie with each truffle being around just 50 calories
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Avocados: Its best to use firm ripe avocados for this recipe. Avoid using old avocados or ones that are over-ripe. I used Hass avocados for my truffles which have a rich sweet creamy flesh and are available all year round. Shepherd avocados also work well and have a smooth buttery inside and they have a slightly more nutty flavour, however these ones are only available a few months of the year.
- Almond Meal: this adds body and texture to the truffles and also a nutty earthiness. Alternatively you could use Hazelnut meal however it is a little more expensive.
- Cocoa Powder: Unsweetened cocoa powder is best and is generally available from the health food aisle at supmarkets. Avoid using the drinking chocolate powder as it is too sweet for this recipe.
- Granulated Sweetener: I love using the Green Earth brand which have a brown monkfruit sweetener that very much resembles brown sugar in texture and taste. Its perfect for no bake sweets as there is no grittiness and it provides a lovely sweetness. Alternatively a powdered monkfruit sweetener could be used.
- Vanilla Essence: is used to add additional flavour. You could leave this out if you don’t have it or substitute it with another flavouring, or your favourite liqueur in the same quantities (be careful to not over do it and make the mixture to wet as it will he harder to roll)
- Ground Cinnamon: used to add another layer of flavour and can be easily substitute with ground ginger, ground cloves, all spice, mixed spice, or pumpkin spice
- Sea Salt: balances out all the flavours so that you can taste them without any one being too overpowering. I think a dash of sea salt goes a long way to enhancing these truffles.
How To Make
- Mix Ingredients to form a smooth paste: Add all the ingredients to a large mixing bowl and use a dessert spoon to mix together thoroughly so that a thick paste is formed. Optional – to use a food processor to smooth out the mixture if there are too many avocado bits still visible
- Refrigerate: Place mixture into fridge for 1 hour to firm up
- Roll into balls and decorate: Roll into 23 evenly sized balls using damp hands. (you may need to wash/clean you hand every 4 to 5 balls or so to keep them super smooth on the outside)
How to Mash Avocado
The Right Avocado: Make sure that the avocado is ripe. Trying to mash an avocado that’s not ripe will be difficult and won’t yield a smooth nor creamy truffle.
The Right Bowl: Make sure you have the right size bowl. Using one too small will make mashing too difficult and its better to use a bowl that’s too large, rather than too small. I like to use a glass or ceramic bowl that has a bit of weight to it rather than a steel bowl and sometimes they can move around while mashing and it can be a pain.
The Right Utensil: Use a regular sized fork for mashing rather than a spoon as the fork will do it quicker and it will create a better consistency.
The Right Amount of Time: Mashing avocado with a fork by hand may take several minutes depending on the type of avocado and ripeness. The smoother you can mash the avocado before mixing it with the other ingredients the better as it will be harder to make it smooth once its in with everything else.
How To Customise
Spices: Substitute ground cinnamon with chilli powder, cayenne pepper, or ground ginger. A little will go along way with these.
Flavourings: along with the vanilla essence, add some finely ground dried coffee powder for extra coffee flavour, or PB2 powder for a peanut butter flavour, or even a scoop of protein powder. Alternatively, skip the vanilla, and add a few drops of peppermint extract, for choc mint truffles.
Chocolate: A drizzle of melted sugar free white or dark chocolate takes these to the next level whilst still keeping them healthy and low calorie.
Recipe Tips
- Rolling into balls: keep a small bowl of water nearby when rolling to dip your fingers into to avoid the mixture sticking. Damp hands also helps to achieve a super smooth outside on the truffle
- Speeding things up: If you do happen to own a food processor, you can certainly just put al the ingredients for the chocolate avocado truffles in there and blitz for a minute to avoid the manual work of mashing the avocados and mixing by hand.
- Serving Size: This recipe makes around 23 regular sized truffles. You could make all 12 to 14 large ones, or even use mini muffin pans with paper liners to press the mixture into if you’re not a fan of the ball shape or want to try something different
- Other Uses: Use this chocolate avocado truffle recipe as a filling for a cheesecake
- Storage: To ensure truffles remain fresh and don’t get too soft, I recommend storing in an air tight container in the fridge for upto 5 days.
These truffles are easy to make ahead for guests or to give as gifts at holiday time. They’re healthy, rich and indulgent and you won’t need to eat them all to satisfy your sweet cravings.
Naturally sweetened with no added sugars this is an ideal no fuss no bake dessert recipe you can make for special occasions or have on hand for after dinner treats during the week, just like these Peanut Butter Chocolate Dates.
More Bite Sized Desserts:
Chocolate Avocado Truffles
Ingredients
- 2 cups Almond Meal
- 1 cup Mashed Avocado, about 2 medium avocados - (see note 1)
- ½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- ⅓ cup Granulated Brown Sweetener, that measures like sugar - (see note 4)
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla essence
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
Optional (for decoration)
- ¾ cup Sugar free chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon diced pistachios, or other nuts
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
- Mix Ingredients to form a smooth paste: Add all the ingredients to a large mixing bowl and use a dessert spoon to mix together thoroughly so that a thick paste is formed. Optional – to use a food processor to smooth out the mixture if there are too many avocado bits still visible
- Refrigerate: Place mixture into fridge for 1 hour to firm up
- Roll into balls and decorate: Roll into 23 evenly sized balls using damp hands. (you may need to wash/clean you hand every 4 to 5 balls or so to keep them super smooth on the outside)
- Store: To ensure truffles remain fresh and don’t get too soft, I recommend storing in an air tight container in the fridge for upto 5 days.
Notes
- Avocados: Its best to use firm ripe avocados for this recipe. Avoid using old avocados or ones that are over-ripe. I used Hass avocados for my truffles which have a rich sweet creamy flesh and are available all year round. Shepherd avocados also work well and have a smooth buttery inside and they have a slightly more nutty flavour, however these ones are only available a few months of the year.
- Almond Meal: this adds body and texture to the truffles and also a nutty earthiness. Alternatively you could use Hazelnut meal however it is a little more expensive.
- Cocoa Powder: Unsweetened cocoa powder is best and is generally available from the health food aisle at supmarkets. Avoid using the drinking chocolate powder as it is too sweet for this recipe.
- Granulated Sweetener: I love using the Green Earth brand which have a brown monkfruit sweetener that very much resembles brown sugar in texture and taste. Its perfect for no bake sweets as there is no grittiness and it provides a lovely sweetness. Alternatively a powdered monkfruit sweetener could be used.
- Vanilla Essence: is used to add additional flavour. You could leave this out if you don’t have it or substitute it with another flavouring, or your favourite liqueur in the same quantities (be careful to not over do it and make the mixture to wet as it will he harder to roll)
- Ground Cinnamon: used to add another layer of flavour and can be easily substitute with ground ginger, ground cloves, all spice, mixed spice, or pumpkin spice
- Sea Salt: balances out all the flavours so that you can taste them without any one being too overpowering. I think a dash of sea salt goes a long way to enhancing these truffles.
Nutrition
Note: Sugars contained in this recipe are from naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables or other natural sweeteners.
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