Chocolate Crunch Date Truffles
These dairy-free Chocolate Crunch Date Truffles are easy to make and the best crunchy chocolate sweet treat to keep in your fridge at all times! These healthy truffles are made with dates, cacao powder, sunflower seed butter, pure vanilla extract, crispy puffed quinoa, and then covered in a chocolate ganache style shell for a melt-in-your-mouth chewy treat.
Dates are quickly becoming my favorite fruit. I find when I use dates in my recipes, they are sweet enough that I don’t need to add any additional sugar, keeping the dessert naturally sweetened and also allowing the sweet treat to have a lower glycemic index. Dates are absolutely divine in these Chocolate Crunch Date Truffles! Let’s dive right in!
The Ingredients
Dates. You will need 2 cups of fresh dates for this chocolate truffle recipe. I buy the dates with the pits in them still because I find they are softer, you’ll just need to remove the pits before use in this recipe.
Cacao powder (or cocoa powder). Aside from enhancing the chocolate flavor, using cacao powder brings some powerful antioxidants to these little chocolate bites!
Sunflower seed butter. You can use any nut/seed butter, I use sunflower seed butter to keep these truffles nut-free.
Pure vanilla extract. Make sure it’s pure and not imitation vanilla, as imitation vanilla is not gluten-free.
Puffed quinoa. You can buy puffed quinoa on Amazon. It’s kind of like cereal, but it’s really tiny so it works well in these bite-sized truffles.
Check out the recipe card below👇🏻 for the puffed quinoa I used.
Plant milk. I used sunflower seed milk but any will work.
Dairy-free chocolate chips. What’s chocolate truffles without a melt-in-your-mouth chocolate shell?! Haha I used Hu Kitchen chocolate gems, but you can use whatever dairy-free dark chocolate chips you’d like. You’ll be coating the crispy date bites in a soft chocolate ganache-style shell.
How To Make These Chocolate Crunch Date Truffles
Combine the pitted dates, cacao powder, sunflower seed butter and vanilla in a food processor and process until you have a date paste, making sure everything is well combined.
Next, you’re going to spoon the mixture into a bowl and add the puffed quinoa. Stir to combine well, until you don’t have any loose puffed quinoa in the bowl and it’s all folded into the date paste.
* You may also try this puffed quinoa that is cheaper, but I haven’t used this one and don’t know what size the little quinoa puffs are…
Using a tablespoon, roll into balls using about 1 tablespoon of the mixture per ball. You may need to squeeze them in your hands to get them to stick together and then roll until they are as smooth and as round as you can get them. Set them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Now you could just stop here, these are delicious little bites in themselves… but in traditional imitation crunch bar style, we’re dunking these babies in chocolate!
In a small saucepan, heat the plant milk over medium heat until it starts to bubble but isn’t a rolling boil. Remove from heat and whisk in the chocolate chips until they are all melted and you have a thick chocolate ganache.
Working with one at a time, roll each date ball in the chococlate using a fork to fully cover it, tap the fork on the side of the saucepan to remove any excess chocolate and then carefully place it back on the baking sheet. Once all of the balls are covered in chocolate, you can use the fork to drizzle any leftover chocolate over the truffles if desired.
Place the baking sheet in the fridge to set up for about 30 minutes. Store in an airtight container for up to a week (but I highly doubt these will last that long LOL! 😝). The crispies will get less crispy after a few days, so if you aren’t going to enjoy them all within that time you can store them in the freezer.
Let me know what you think about these Chocolate Crunch Date Truffles! Leave me a comment down below in the comments section, as well as giving it a five rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others can discover this easy, healthy chocolate recipe! Tag me on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest if you make them!
Check Out These Other Chocolate Date Recipes!
Almond Flour Date Cookie Dough Bars
“Snickers” Frozen Yogurt Chocolate Covered Date Bites
Pretzel Pumpkin Seed Date Chocolate Clusters
Chocolate Crunch Date Truffles
These dairy-free Chocolate Crunch Date Truffles are easy to make and the best crunchy chocolate sweet treat to keep in your fridge at all times! These healthy truffles are made with dates, cacao powder, sunflower seed butter, pure vanilla extract, crispy puffed quinoa, and then covered in a chocolate ganache style shell for a melt-in-your-mouth chewy treat.
Ingredients
- 2 cups dates, pitted
- ¼ cup unsweetened cacao powder (or cocoa powder)
- ⅓ cup sunflower seed butter
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup puffed quinoa (see product I use below)
- ⅓ cup plant milk (I used sunflower seed milk but any will work)
- 1¼ cup dairy-free chocolate chips
Instructions
Combine the pitted dates, cacao powder, sunflower seed butter and vanilla in a food processor and process until you have a date paste, making sure everything is well combined. Spoon the mixture into a bowl and add the puffed quinoa. Stir to combine well, until you don't have any loose puffed quinoa in the bowl and it's all folded into the date paste.
Using a tablespoon, roll into balls using about 1 tablespoon of the mixture per ball. You may need to squeeze them in your hands to get them to stick together and then roll until they are as smooth and as round as you can get them. Set them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
In a small saucepan, heat the plant milk over medium heat until it starts to bubble but isn't a rolling boil. Remove from heat and whisk in the chocolate chips until they are all melted and you have a thick chocolate ganache.
Working with one at a time, roll each date ball in the chococlate using a fork to fully cover it, tap the fork on the side of the saucepan to remove any excess chocolate and then carefully place it back on the baking sheet. Once all of the balls are covered in chocolate, you can use the fork to drizzle any leftover chocolate over the truffles if desired.
Place the baking sheet in the fridge to set up for about 30 minutes. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, after that, store them in an airtight container in the freezer to keep them crunchy for up to a few months.
Notes
* Try to use the freshest dates possible
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