Chili Chocolate Truffles for Valentine’s Day

Roland asked me if he could cook me anything special for Valentine’s day and of course, I asked him what he would like me to cook for him.

A simple smoked salmon appetizer before dinner, and a delicious dessert for after. What will you serve in between?

Somewhere, right in the land of not-married-yet, I used to have this idea (duh!) that our taste for food was the same, to the extent where I assumed he would LOVE what I LOVE for holidays.

Nothing could be futher from the truth

Thankfully, a few years into marriage, we are pretty cool with what the other one wants and we make it all.

Here is what I said:

“Sweetheart, here is what I want: endives with grapefruit and avocado for a starter, then shrimp wrapped in bacon over rice, then for dessert I want chili chocolate truffles!”

Simple, ya?

Like my V-day menu wish?

I thought it would be fair to share two of the recipes.

If you choose to make those for your holiday meal you will impress with something simple and healthy, which is also light and absolutely memorable!

Endives with fruit and avocado

Depending on where you live, this can be lettuce leaves too, given that endives are not available all the time. They are cute as a leaf veggies gets though and they are slightly bitter, which both aids digestion and complements other more simple tastes that you pair endives with.  To make this starter you simply need some grapefruit and avocado. Choose both to be relatively firm, as you will need to section and peel the grapefruit and slice the avocado. In the picture you can see we’ve added some chives too, but those grow crazy in our tower garden, so we always have a ton of them around. ANY green would look awesome on top.  Not a fan of grapefruit? Pears work wonderfully there, and if you go with pear you might as well add some blue cheese.

Now to the chili chocolate truffles

The original idea is from Feed Your Awesome Machine

A few years back we participated in a chili tasting from Marx Foods – some of the finest food you can buy on the Internet. We still have some of their incredible chills laying around and I was excited to try them. The truffles with coconut milk and coconut oil are delicate, rich and oh wait until you taste the cinnamon and chili!

For 25 small truffles I used:

100 ml thick Thai coconut milk (you can use any brand with the least fillers you can find)

150 gr 85% Lind chocolate (it’s a holiday so I let some sugar slide)

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 pinch cinnamon

1 pinch Himalayan salt

1/2 small chili, no seeds

carob and coconut flakes for rolling

From here it’s real easy. Take a double boiler, heat up the coconut milk and place the spices and chili inside. Heat for a few minutes, then strain to remove the pepper and heat again. Add the coconut oil and chocolate and stir till you have a smooth ganache. Cover and place in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

After that you will be able to take out, form small balls and roll them in the carob (or cacao) and coconut flakes.

These are amazing and so worth sharing with friends! Need a gift? Stick them in a jar, decorate and hand them to loved ones!

I know Roland is also working on his favorites now, so I will head over to read his take!

What are you making this Valentine’s Day?

For Roland’s take on a Valentine’s Day dessert, click here!