You know I take pride in being a healthy food-loving omnivore cook. So when my raw vegan dessert-making friend came to stay over at my place, I got a very interesting and different kind of “cooking” lesson. She taught me how to make something I would never make otherwise: raw vegan chocolate truffles. I don’t have the exact recipe for you, but we basically mixed ground cashews with cocoa powder, melted cocoa butter, and agave nectar, with a little sea salt and vanilla extract. We made little balls out of the thick paste, and then rolled each ball in coarsely ground cocoa nibs. DASSIT. Quick and simple.
The verdict: they were tasty! But here’s the catch. Let’s be real–they’re not chocolate truffles. They reminded me of a cocoa-flavored Larabar. While I love Larabars, I think of them as more of a snack than a dessert. Like with my issue with some vegan recipes, I prefer raw food when it’s supposed to be raw (fruit, nuts, certain veggies), and not when it’s a raw adaptation of something that’s meant to be cooked. I grew up on Leonidas’s chocolate pralines and truffles. So I know these guys ain’t chocolate truffles.
It’s mainly a labeling issue. These treats are indeed tasty, fairly healthy, and pretty to look at. But if not a chocolate truffle, what to call them? My friend who taught me how to make them referred to them as raw vegan BALLS, which sounds totally unappetizing but more accurate than truffles I guess!
Do you ever eat raw vegan desserts? Which are your favorites?
