With feijoa season well and truly upon us in the south pacific, even the most hardened feijoa lovers are starting to wonder what to do with the excess!  I was asked by Plastic Free Pantry here on Waiheke Island to adapt a recipe that used chocolate & wine biscuits to make them with packaging-free ingredients instead. I was making nut mylk at the time and so it seemed natural to utilise the nut grounds as the base. 

These truffles are moist and decadent, have a chocolately texture with the cacao butter base, but still have a lovely strong feijoa flavour. We are very excited about Plastic Free Pantry now stocking raw cacao butter - which we hope to make available as a plastic-free option for Be Vibrant customers in the near future. Such a decadent & useful ingredient which I've used extensively in our raw recipes.

You can happily halve the recipe if you want a smaller quantity, or you can freeze the extra mixture or the balls until they are needed.  If you make your nut mylk ahead of time, you can freeze the grounds till you are ready to use them. These are quick to make, but you need to allow total prep time of 1 - 2 hours of chilling time for the mixture before you form the balls.

Ingredients for around 15 truffle balls:

• 1 cup nut & date grounds from making almond, cashew & date nut mylk - squeeze out the grounds till they are as dry as possible - a Goodie Bag is great for this! (If you have not made the nut mylk, simply grind some almonds/ cashews and soak in a little water for 30 mins, then drain.)
• 8 large feijoas
• 200g cacao butter
• 140g coconut sugar
• 50g cacao powder - sifted or seived
• 100 - 200g dessicated coconut or ground shredded coconut (to roll, and to add to the mixture if it's too loose.)

Method:

1. Halve the feijoas (it helps to cut them on an angle), scoop out the flesh and blend.

2. In a large saucepan, on VERY low heat slowly melt the cacao butter. You don't want to cook it, just melt it! If your cooktop does not have good temperature controls, then follow the double boiler method as follows: place the cacao butter in a large bowl, and fill the saucepan with water until the bowl floats, being very careful not to get ANY water into the cacao butter in the bowl. Then gently heat the water, allowing the cacao butter to melt inside the bowl.

3. Once the cacao butter is fully melted, add the coconut sugar, cacao, and feijoa pulp and mix well.

4. Cover and chill the mixture in the fridge for 1 - 2 hours, until it is firm enough to form a ball with your fingers. If the mixture is still too wet, then try adding 50-100g of the dessicated or ground coconut, mix everything well, and leave for another 30 minutes.

5. Form into balls and roll in dessicated or ground coconut. Chill until required. You can also freeze the balls or the mixture until it's needed.

Enjoy!