I may have once or twice in years past read and followed an actual recipe for making the little dessert dainties known as truffles. Knowing my propensity for changing recipes even before giving the originals a test run, I doubt it. But since there are some basic qualities and characteristics to these wondrous tidbits that can be imitated and incorporated into any number of experimental forms, I’ve seldom been disappointed with the pretenders I managed to create in my laboratory of a kitchen.

Lately, I’ve had an urge to have some small munch-able snacks that wouldn’t be terribly non-compliant with my new-and-improved-since-summer-overkill style of dining. So it was a logical occasion to put together a few healthier nuts, dried fruits, fats, and flavorings to create some truffle-esque combinations to enjoy. In moderation. Of course.

Hahahahahaha! I almost fooled myself with that part. But I’m trying to improved on that front as well as the content-specific one, since this past summer taught me well and truly that I don’t like how I feel when I eat absolutely everything I feel like eating, whenever I feel like eating it. And, in reducing my intake while greatly improving the quality of it nutritionally speaking, I am discovering that it’s genuinely worth the trouble. So these little trifles I’m calling truffles, however loosely I use the term, are aimed at being one or two at a time snacks to add sweetness or crunch or simply to vary what is the main part of my diet, rather than to substitute for or double [triple, quadruple] the caloric content thereof.

I even made a variety of them to allow myself a change of tastes when I want it. But I was, I hope, wiser than in the past, putting most of them in the freezer so that I will be careful in doling them out rather than, say, looking at them as something to clear off of the counter or out of the fridge quickly. Merely for neatness’ sake, naturally. They are candies, after all, no matter what I want to tell myself about the goodness and healthful characteristics of their ingredients! See, I can learn.

They’re all made simply by buzzing their ingredients together in my food processor until they reach a texture that suits me, then refrigerated in flattened slabs, cut into pieces, and, if I like, coated with something to keep them from sticking together too much while being served. The Nutella-flavored ones I left uncoated.

1: Apples & Almonds
2 cups/1 pt whole-apple cider with 6T plain gelatin bloomed in it                                       4 scoops of vanilla [vegan] protein powder
1 lb raw almonds
1 tsp salt
1 T vanilla
1 tsp almond essence
1/2 cup coconut oil

Coating: 1 T granulated xylitol (sugar alcohol) + 1 T cinnamon + 1/2 tsp salt, ground together in a mortar until roughly blended.

2: Nutellicious
1 cup coconut oil
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup toasted coconut flakes
1 cup candied ginger slices
2 cups hazelnuts (raw, skin-on)
3/4 cup dates (whole)
1/4 cup black sesame seeds
1/4 cup white sesame seeds
1 T vanilla
1/2 cup dark cocoa (Hershey’s Special Dark)
1/2 cup unrefined coconut sugar

3: Imperial Black Walnut-Mandarin
1/2 cup black walnuts
3 cups walnuts
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup dark maple syrup
1 mandarins (whole, fresh, with peel—remove any seeds!)
1/2 tsp pure black walnut essence
1 tsp pure maple essence

Coating: 1 T xylitol (see above) + 1 T freeze-dried diced orange peel + 1/2 tsp salt, whizzed together in my spice grinder to a powder.