Espresso and oat truffles. No sugar, no butter, no flour.

Guys and gals, this is sooo good! First time I made a small batch, perhaps 5 or 6 truffle balls, just to test them. Second time I made a hundred of them and brought them to work. They were all gone in a few hours, even the notice paper (photo below). Did they eat the paper?? 

Some comments I received:
"Thank you very much for the Birthday treats, very yummy.  Please may I have the recipe."

"Hi Vidmantis
Happy Birthday! Thanks for the lovely, sweet (sugar-free!) truffles.
Can I have the recipe, if it's not a guarded secret? I have some vegan friends coming for dinner next Saturday, and I always struggle to come up with a good pudding. These would be great!"

If you like chocolate, you MUST try them. They taste just like chocolate truffles, but there is no chocolate in them. Recipe at the bottom of the post.

Before making the 100 truffles I had a conversation with Auste:

-Me: “It’s gonna take me ages to make them...”
-Auste: "I'll help you".  
-I look at her after 2 seconds and guess what I see!

100 truffles later...

To make 15 truffles you need:

15 large medjool dates, pitted [or normal dried dates soaked in water]
4 tbsp rolled oats (not instant, quick-shmick oats)
2 tbsp dried shredded coconut, unsweetened
2 tbsp extra virgin coconut [olive] oil, room temperature
2 tbsp cacao powder
½ tsp vanilla extract or ground vanilla
½ tsp ground cardamom [nutmeg]
1 shot cold espresso

1) Mix all the ingredients in a food processor for about 1 minute or until it forms up like a ball. (I used a fork to mash the soaked dried dates and it worked OK)

2) Place the mixture in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

3) Form small round truffles with your hands.

4) Roll the truffles in cocoa powder, finely chopped almonds, shredded coconut or rolled oats.

5) Place in the fridge for 20 minutes before serving.

Coconut oil has more flavour than olive oil, and has a higher burning (smoking) point, but olive oil in this recipe worked fine. I didn’t have cardamom, therefore used a teeny tiny bit of nutmeg as its flavour is quite dominant.

If you haven't already, you need to start following 'Green Kitchen Stories'. Their family is beautiful, creative and inspiring, sharing the love for healthy vegetarian food. This recipe was posted by them a while ago, but as it is so good, it needs to come to light once more. I have **slightly** modified the recipe, but it was still delicious.

This is what makes our Christmas magical. [photos only; part 2]

Yakiguri Gohan and our mid-December barbecue

Where I come from, people don’t usually cook chestnuts, let alone eat them - you just throw them at each other when you’re a kid. That’s all. The other day, however, I bought some chestnuts and luckily stumbled upon an interesting recipe from a cool blogger Kyoto foodie (recipe at the end).

 

It was the 14 of December and the weather was perfect for a barbecue. NOT! As it was a bit chilly, we packed our picnic basket with tea and biscuits.

Even though we were wearing scarves and gloves, the barbecue was a definite success. The chestnuts came out very charred and full of smoky flavour.

Theoretically it is easier to peel the chestnuts while they’re hot, so I peeled them straight off the barbecue to find out for myself.

Yes, it is easier. And yes, it does hurt.

I have well over roasted the chestnuts but it didn’t over complicate the dish. And it was a nice way to enjoy a chilly afternoon with ‘chestnuts roasting on an open fire..’ song in my head.

With a few alterations, here was the end result. I have slightly altered the recipe to suit the basic “westerner’s” cupboard items, however the original ingredients are included.

Before you cook, you’re most likely to need a jargon buster:

DASHI KOMBU IS DRIED KELP

KELP IS A TYPE OF SEAWEED

DONABE IS A RICE COOKER/DISH/PAN

SAKE IS JAPANESE HIGH ALCOHOL WINE

MIRIN IS SWEET RICE WINE

YAKIGURI IS ROASTED CHESTNUTS

GOHAN IS RICE

Ingredients:

 

•20 medium size chestnuts

•1 cup short grain white rice

•1 cup of water

•2 tablespoons sake*

•1 tablespoon mirin**

•1 teaspoon salt

•dashi kombu*** 

 

*Sake is a high alcohol Japanese white wine (something over 14% would have a similar effect). I have used 13% dry white wine which was a bit bitter.

**Mirin is a sweet rice wine used in Japanese cooking. Instead of mirin you can just use dry sherry or sweet marsala. I have dissolved a small amount of sugar in a little dry white wine (1/4 teaspoon of sugar to 1/4 cup white wine).

***Dashi Kombu: Dashi kombu is dried kelp (seaweed). It has a very distinct taste and I am not sure of a substitute ingredient. I bought a bag (photo below) for £1.90 from a local Asian store and there are like 7 of them in the bag!

Directions:

 

1)      Roast the chestnuts in an oven (180 C) for 10-20 minutes, or on an open fire until charred. Optionally, you can cut crosses in chestnuts so they are exposed to flame and get a smoky flavour.

2)      Add the water and rice to a pot (donabe). Then add sake, mirin and salt. Mix in the chestnuts and place sheet of dried dashi kombu on top.

3)      Heat until near boil and cover the pot. Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes.

4)      After 10 minutes, remove from heat and leave for 10 minutes.

5)      Uncover and mix gently to break chestnuts into pieces.

6)      Generally the kombu is discarded, but I really enjoyed the chewy little sponge with the meal.

Apparently in certain places in Japan it is considered poor presentation if you leave the chestnuts whole. The reason is if you don’t have a chestnut in every bite, you can’t taste its full flavours. Everything has to be inside the bowl, no rice sticking out. Also, the Japanese are well known for their distinct personalities, attention to detail and aesthetics. So let’s have a nice meal with respect for our food and the ones enjoying it.

 

And Iiiii’m offering the simple phrase… for kids from 1... till 92... Merry Christmas…. tooooooo youuuuu! Tan tan tan, tan tan tan, tan tan tan.. tan tan!