Gluten Free Coconut Cashew Truffles

We have been talking at work about truffles lately.  We already have a chocolate truffle.  But admittedly,  it is one of the previous baker's recipes and is really not good or tasty.  (It is also not allergy friendly because it contains soy, chocolate, gluten and nuts.)  But, if there is one thing I have learned since being in this position,  it is that our customers do not like current items changed.  We tried to change the tiramisu (the old baker used stale muffins as the base, lemon tofu creme, then drizzled the entire thing with chocolate - does this sound like tiramisu?  God no!),  and all the customers rebelled and freaked out.  So we are back to the lemon creme tiramisu, although not with the stale muffins because we have more class than that! 

Anyway, we've decided not to change the truffle recipe, but I definitely want to do a white truffle.  White chocolate would obviously be the best thing ever, but it is extremely difficult to find a vegan white chocolate and very very expensive.  So, beautiful idea, but not realistic.  Moving on.  Then I came up with the idea of using cashew and coconut.  A cashew coconut truffle?  Interesting sounding, but would it be tasty?  Hmm - onto the testing.  It took me a good 3 tries to get the consistency right, but in the end it worked out and is so delicious!  One batch made 70 and I brought out as I was walking out the door.  When I came in the next morning, I couldn't find them anywhere and was convinced that someone had dropped the tray on the floor and thrown them away.  After asking around, I discovered they all sold within 3 hours - 70 truffles in 3 hours!  Yes, they're that damn good!

Coconut Cashew Truffles:



Melt on Your Tongue Delicious!

Yields 30 mini truffles

1 1/2 cups cashews, soaked
3/4 cup young coconut flesh, chopped
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons agave
1 1/2 cups coconut oil, melted (refined is best)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 vanilla bean, deseeded

1.  Drain the water from the cashews and discard.  Make sure all the ingredients are room temperature or warmer.  If anything is cold, it will cause the coconut oil to solidify and this mixture will not blend at all. 
2.  Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and blend until completely smooth and silky.  It will be very glossy looking and a little stretchy from the coconut. 
3.  Place in a rectangular container, cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to refrigerate 4 hours to overnight. 
4.  The following day when you want to portion these out, allow the mixture to sit out for about 5-10 minutes to soften slightly - it will be impossible to start scooping them out right away.  Use a mini ice cream scoop/portion scoop and scoop them onto a plate lined with shredded coconut.  Once you have scooped a good amount, use your hands to roll them into uniform shaped balls and roll in the coconut right away. 
5.  Once you have finished portioning and rolling all the truffle balls, place them in the refrigerator and store them there. But, first you have to pop a whole one in your mouth and sigh in bliss!  So amazing!

Enjoy!

-Koko