Mocha cream paleo truffles are an ideal no-bake dessert for the warmer months. And since they’re vegan, too, more of your friends can enjoy them!
I’ve been sick for the past few days and haven’t been able to stomach much other than these paleo truffles. I think it’s because I’ve been eating them frozen and they’re made with such wholesome ingredients–no dairy or anything like that to throw a wrench into things. My appetite has been really low and I haven’t even craved my morning coffee like I usually do, but a couple of these chilled truffles gives me a little bit of the caffeine boost I’d otherwise be missing out on.
These are also fabulous when you’re feeling great. In fact, the mocha cream filling is so good on its own that I didn’t even dip the first batch into chocolate. I dreamed up this filling a couple of weeks ago and it tasted even better than I’d hoped. Basically it’s cashews whirred to creamy perfection with some coffee (both brewed coffee and finely ground espresso powder), cocoa (I absolutely love this fair-trade, Dutch-processed cocoa and use it in all my recipes), maple syrup for sweetness, and a little bit of salt and vanilla because all desserts need those two flavor-boosters. Sometimes cashew-based desserts taste too much like cashews to me but these don’t at all–the flavor is pure mocha.
Maple syrup pairs especially well with mocha. The dark undertones of its sweetness blend in with the coffee and chocolate so you don’t detect the maple flavor; you just wonder what other mysterious taste is in there that deepens and complements the mocha taste so well (see also this no-churn mocha ice cream made with homemade maple-sweetened condensed milk).
Anyway, after I made the first batch of this filling and scooped it into balls, I stuck it into the freezer to firm up so I could dip the truffles into melted chocolate later. That was on a Sunday afternoon and things got so busy with preparing for the work week that I didn’t get to it, so I thought I’d do it some evening that week after work. I told Ben he could try one or two of the naked truffles to see how he liked the filling, but not to eat them all because I was going to coat them in chocolate later.
, and dropped it into a saucepan with almond milk, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Once the mixture had come to a robust simmer, I poured it over a bowl of chocolate chips. I whisked the mixture into shiny perfection: truffle batter.
, a method I learned from 
