This is my second and most successful attempt at making low sugar, dairy free chocolate truffles in the past week. I used Swerve sweetener the first time and didn’t add cocoa butter. They turned out okay, but the erythritol recrystalized upon cooling, giving the chocolate a gritty texture, and the baker’s chocolate was too bitter with just coconut cream and sweetener. The cocoa butter made a huge difference in flavor, making it more like milk chocolate. It also improved the texture, making it as smooth as silk. I probably could have reduced the cocoa butter to 1 ounce and/or the coconut cream to a 1/4 cup; at room temperature the truffles are a little soft, but the flavor is so good I don’t mind.

To sweeten unsweetened chocolate the ratio is 1 tablespoon of sugar per ounce of chocolate. I used the same ratio for cocoa butter. In this recipe I used my favorite brand of stevia-erythritol blend that I powdered in a spice grinder so it didn’t become grainy upon cooling instead of Swerve. Since stevia-erythritol blends are twice as sweet as sugar, I used 3 tablespoons per 6 ounces of chocolate and cocoa butter.

I didn’t temper the chocolate so it doesn’t have that beautiful shine of tempered chocolate. You can find two methods of tempering chocolate at the Ghirardelli website. This recipe has optional macadamia nuts since I had them on hand and I love the combination of macadamia nuts and chocolate; they can be eliminated or substituted with another variety of nut. I plan to make low sugar peanut butter cups with this recipe in the near future. I used an ice cube tray with a silicone bottom sprayed with coconut oil as a mold for these truffles; the chocolate was too soft to roll into balls until it cooled down.

4 oz baker’s chocolate, finely chopped
2 oz cocoa butter, finely chopped
3/4 cup macadamia nuts, optional
1/3 cup coconut cream
3 Tbs stevia-erythritol blend, powdered
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients except nuts in a heat safe bowl or a double boiler. Bring a small pot of water or bottom of a double boiler with 2-3 inches of water in it to a low simmer and place the bowl/pot on top of it; the water should not touch the bottom of the bowl. Stir frequently with a silicone or metal spoon until the chocolate and cocoa butter are completely melted and the texture is smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the nuts. Spoon chocolate mixture into prepared molds. Chill until completely cool before removing from mold. Store in the refrigerator or a cool, dry place.