vegan orange ginger chocolate truffles

I'm a chocoholic.  I find a way to get chocolate into my diet daily and I have zero plans of changing this....ever.  My littles have clearly inherited this trait too.  I recently hid a small supply of my Irish chocolate from my fall trip in the freezer and I went to get it one night this week to find EMPTY WRAPPERS! My littles had found it, eaten it and then left the wrappers in the freezer as if they were still full.  Heart breaking to find at 8PM after a long day.  It's a good thing they're cute.

This week's recipe is a vegan chocolate truffle that has only a few ingredients and it's super rich and decadent. They feel like little rule breakers because they're just that cozy (I may or may not be eating one of these right now). Chocolate and orange has been one of my absolute favorite flavor combinations since I was a kid and the ginger adds a bit of a holiday twist. The recipe isn't complicated but it does require a little bit of time and planning ahead but I swear to you that they're worth it.

Vegan Orange Ginger Chocolate Truffles
(makes approximately 18 truffles)

Ingredients
-1 can full fat coconut milk (it's very important that you don't use light coconut milk- we need the fat for this recipe!)
-2 x 10z packages of vegan chocolate chips (I used Enjoylife Foods Chocolate Chunks)
- 1 1/2 tsp orange extract
-zest of 2 small oranges
-3/4 tsp ground ginger (I kept the ginger flavor subtle but feel free to kick it up a notch if you love your ginger)
-1/4 cup of ginger cubes (I find these in the section of the grocery store with nuts, dates etc.)

Directions
Place the can of coconut milk in the fridge the night before you plan to make this recipe (I just put mine in the fridge when I get home from the grocery store and then it's ready to go when I need it because I will likely otherwise forget to do this step).  The refrigeration of the full fat coconut milk causes the fat or cream to separate from the water in the can.

Open the refrigerated can of coconut milk and scoop out the thick cream.  It's ok if you get a little bit of the water as well but try to minimize it as much as possible.  Place the cream into a saucepan (it ends up being just slightly less than a full cup of cream) and place on medium heat on the stove and stir regularly as it heats up.  The cream starts with a lumpy appearance and then smooths out as it heats evenly.  Heat to the point that you can see steam coming off of it (you don't need to bring it to a boil).  Remove the coconut milk from the heat and then pour in 1 x 10z package of vegan chocolate chips and stir immediately and continuously as the chocolate melts into the coconut milk.  Once all of the chocolate is smoothly melted and stirred into the milk, add in the orange extract, the ground ginger and the zest of 1 of the small oranges.  Stir until the extract, zest and ginger is all incorporated.  Pour the chocolate mixture into a bowl, cover and chill for at least one hour.  I give the chocolate mixture a stir every 15-20 minutes while it's in the fridge to even it out as it begins to set from the outside in.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  You'll know the chocolate mixture is set as it will have the texture of really thick mud and feel difficult to stir a spoon through it.  Once set, remove it from the fridge.  With clean hands, scoop out a portion of the chocolate with a small spoon and roll into a ball by hand.  Your hands will get very messy here...it's all good. Place the chocolate ball on the parchment paper lined baking sheet and repeat this step until all of the chocolate is rolled into small balls and lined up on the baking sheet.  Place the baking sheet in the freezer to set for 15-20 minutes.  

Roughly chop the ginger cubes into small pieces and ensure you have your zester and second small orange nearby.  Using a double boiler or create your own by placing the chocolate into a heat safe bowl on top of a saucepan with boiling water, melt half of the second package of vegan chocolate chips by stirring frequently (I suggest using a rubber spatula).  Note: I complete this step of the recipe in two batches as the dipped chocolate truffles will set very quickly.

Remove the chocolate balls from the freezer and remove the melted chocolate from the stove.  Using a metal skewer, dip each chocolate ball into the melted chocolate, use the rubber spatula to help bring melted chocolate from underneath and cover the entire ball.  Return the dipped truffle to the parchment paper.  Repeat this step until you have used up this batch of melted chocolate (approximately half of the chocolate balls will be dipped).  Immediately top the covered truffles with a piece of cubed ginger and zest some of the orange over top of the truffles as a garnish.  Melt the second half of the package of vegan chocolate chips and repeat this entire section with the second batch of melted chocolate and the other half of the chocolate balls.  If you have a small amount of melted chocolate left over, use a fork to drizzle a little bit over each piece of cubed ginger and place the tray of completed chocolates in the fridge to set. 

Store these in the fridge in an air tight container.  These make adorable little gifts in a tissue paper lined box or tin, or just pull one out and enjoy anytime you want a mini-luxury chocolate break.

​Happy holidays everyone!

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