Ferrero Rocher Truffles.
After not consuming a Ferrero Rocher in years I finally decided it was time to veganise one! Instead of a Nutella-based centre, however, this re-creation has a chocolate hazelnut butter truffle core, encased in a hard shell of hazelnut chocolate, oh and armoured with more crunchy roasted hazelnuts; and its fair to say it is utterly mouth-watering and moreish.
Serves: 10 | Total Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
100g crunchy hazelnut butter (I use meridian)
50g wholemeal buckwheat flour (spelt, oat, or all-purpose flour may also work)
10g cacao powder
4 tbsp unsweetened plain oat yoghurt (or plain soya yoghurt)
90g Medjool dates (weight before being pitted)
90g hazelnut chocolate (I use Nomo, but can be subbed for raw dark chocolate for refined sugar free truffles)
1 small bag of roasted hazelnuts, finely chopped
Instructions
Pit the dates and place them in a small bowl with some boiling water. Allow them to soak for 10 minutes then discard the water and place the dates into a food processor
Place all the remaining ingredients into a food processor, minus the hazelnut chocolate, and blend until a dough is formed. The dough should be thick enough to have created a rolled ball in the food processor- if it is too watery and not sticking, add in extra flour bit by bit; if the dough is too dry and crumbly, add in tiny amounts of either hazelnut butter or yoghurt until the mixture begins to stick.
Remove the food processor from electricity and taking your hands, take out 10 even-sized handfuls of mixture. But before rolling them up in your hands, lightly sprinkle some extra flour over your palms (this will help to avoid the mixture sticking to your palms as you roll them). Proceed to roll up each ball one by one.
Place the rolled truffles into the freezer while you chop your hazelnuts up into small crumbs.
Melt down the hazelnut chocolate for 1 minute or so in the microwave. Pour the melted chocolate over a ball, spreading it over the sides with a spoon until the balls are fully coated. Then sprinkle over the chopped hazelnuts, pressing them lightly around the entirety of the ball in order to help stick. Repeat this with each truffle.
Place the truffles back into the fridge to allow the chocolate to set and harden. Enjoy straight from the fridge and store in an airtight container for up to 1 week! (oh, and they taste even better and fudgier the day after as well).