These are a bit like tiny Snickers bars and completely irresistible. They make a great gift or treat to take to a friend. If you love peanut butter you will love these Peanut Butter, date Chocolate Truffles.
I took a little break.
I was really pleased that Skater wanted to come with me to Brisbane and Noosa on a little road trip to visit friends and eat in restaurants ( of course). Sure, he spent the Lions share of that time on his phone- Reddit, YouTube and car sales (a boy must research), but we spent some great time chatting too.
The trip started with a bit of a drama that we just can’t help laughing about now, anyway.
Do you trust baggage handlers?
I always take gifts with me, food of course is de rigueur, but olive oil, balsamic, wine and rice can weight down luggage a great deal and with Skater along for the ride, I had to hunt down an extra bag. The one I found was missing a handle and I was concerned that all of the weight and bottles may become disastrous with baggage handlers massaging them in the gentle way they do.
Skater managed to convince me that the thugs I imagined throwing my bags from the plane to the tarmac would most likely be very thoughtful and caring bag specialists so, I am not quite sure why, but I was assured by this new and naive view and packed all my goodies into the bag with one handle missing. I know silly right?.
A friend of ours came to drop us to the airport and insisted on carrying my bag to the car. She picked it up by the remaining handle and swung it over the doorstep and the bag and the handle separated from each other. The bag went flying over the other side of the verandah. She was completely embarrassed and stood with her arm in the air with the handle curled in her palm. We all screamed in unison and all burst into nervous laughter. I insisted that she had done me a really big favour as I ran back into the house to hunt down another bag.
I teetered on a chair and dug into the top of a cupboard pulling out a soft but passable bag. The three of us pulled everything out of the broken bag and put it into the new bag, being careful to keep the bottles and jars well padded and wrapped. The whole time poor Leesi was apologising profusely for breaking the bag and jeopardising our flight. The bag was repacked, and we jumped into the car and got to the airport with time to spare.
She did me a huge favour but the poor thing felt so very bad. Imagine what baggage handlers would have done with my bag had they had the opportunity to throw it around!
I am told by my friends and my nephews that these little peanut butter truffles taste just like Snickers. I know there are some really sugar free bite recipes out there but I love these. They aren’t sweet but they are moreish and we love them. Here’s your opportunity to learn a new skill for the new year. Easy tempering. I’ve attached a link to an expert explaining the process, but I am sure you will be ok. Just follow the directions and Happy New Year… Chocolate Tempering
Ingredients |
Unit:
|
- 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
- 1 cup nuts I used whole toasted unsalted almonds and hazelnuts
- 1 cup icing sugar powdered
- 1 cup fresh dates chopped
- 1 tablespoon butter soft
- 2 cups dark chocolate chips ( 70 % Lindt or Plaistowe, Callebaut or your favourite made with cocoa butter)
- 1/ 2 cup milk or dark chocolate, semi sweet is chocolate with 40-63% cocoa mass
- 1/2 cup milk chocolate dark chocolate, extra
Instructions
- Put the nuts into a food processor and blitz to break them up a little. Add the peanut butter, sugar, dates and butter into the bowl and blend till pureed but crunchy bits remain ( Alternatively chop everything and mix together in a bowl)
- Roll into small even sized balls and line up on a baking sheet lined with paper. Chill.
- Meantime put the dark chocolate and half a cup of milk or semi sweet chocolate into the microwave and melt on medium for 1 minute or till just melted. Put in the microwave and take out at 1 minute and stir. If it needs a little more only blitz at 10 second intervals till just melted. Stir till smooth. ( Use a double boiler here if you like but make sure the chocolate doesn't get too hot continue stirring to break down any lumps till JUST melted
- Add the extra cup of milk ( or dark chocolate if you like and stir till it all dissolves. This will temper the chocolate so it sets.
- Dip each ball into the bowl of chocolate turning with a fork tapping off any excess. Put each one onto the tray and let them dry at room temperature or set in the fridge if you are in a hurry.
- Decorate with sprinkles or leave to dry and shave extra chocolate or cocoa over them.
Recipe Notes
If you want notes on tempering there are a few sources.Follow the link above or try
here.
Your poor friend. She must’ve been so startled! 🙂 Glad everything went smoothly in the end. 🙂
Thanks Krista she was really shocked
You are right not to trust baggage handlers, in my experience.
But perhaps you could sweeten them up with some of these delicious looking treats. I haven’t been making too much of these kinds of things, as my son has been studying overseas and he is the Hoover I rely on to keep me from eating all of them. 😉
He will be back next month, so I’m looking forward to some indulgent cooking.
Amanda (@lambsearshoney) recently posted..Crush Festival 2016 – Adelaide Hills
Yes it is a disaster to not have an eater on hand Amanda it curtails all that cooking. Hope you get your eater back soon
ERMAHGERD chocolate and peanut butter! Oh you can’t go wrong!
Iron Chef Shellie recently posted..Cotton Soft Japanese Cheesecake
Hi Shellie! They are most certainly delish
You must have stuffed your baggage with lots of FOOD!! How could it break? :-!
Those truffles look fantastic, Tania. By fresh dates, did you mean the raw one or those soft dried one?
Angie@Angie’s Recipes recently posted..Grain-free, Sugar-free Hazelnut Cookies
Yes indeed as usual the bag was stuffed full!
These look terrific. And your luggage story did make me laugh. Am very glad it had a happy ending though!
Helen | Grab Your Fork recently posted..Bovine & Swine Barbecue Company, Enmore
Oh don’t laugh Helen she’s very upset!
I didn’t know you were going to Queensland and would have loved to have seen you however I think I’d been and gone by the time you arrived. We left on the 27th. I heard you caught up with Maureen which I would have loved to have done but there just wasn’t time. Drew has so many family members up there and they all descended on us, even moving in for two nights. There were 12 of us in the house! I came home needing a holiday! I’m glad you and Skater had some quality time together. The truffles are gorgeous and must have fabulous flavour and your poor friend with your luggage! xx
Hotly Spiced recently posted..A Christmas Day Lunch
Thanks Charlie. Wouldn’t that have been great if we could have all caught up. It would have been like Adelaide all over again! x
Oooh, delicious! Yum 🙂
Thanks Kari
These look BEYOND addicting!!
GiGi Eats recently posted..Top 10 Daily Tips for a Healthy and Fit 2016, Guest Post
Oh no. Just have one. Come on……
I love a good peanut butter and chocolate truffle, Tania, but you’ve elevated the treat to the divine. Adding dates is a fantastic idea and I bet a surprise to all lucky enough to sample 1 or 6.
ChgoJohn recently posted..Stovetop Braised Rabbit
Yes there is something secretly nice about the combo. Thanks John
these looks devine!
Hi Amy . hope you are good and eating your way around . Thanks so much for your comment