DAIRY FREE Truffles

Dairy FREE Truffles: Ingredients

For basic truffle recipe* (make approx. 36 truffles):

• 150g 100% chocolate or cacao
• 150ml goats cream
• 25g goats butter
• 2 tablespoons whiskey (you could also use rum / brandy)
• 1 tablespoon goats yogurt

Ideas for additional ingredients to make alternative dairy free truffle flavours:

• Cocoa powder
• Icing sugar
• 25g coconut
• Vermicelli sprinkles (note – these will contain sugar & dairy)

Dairy FREE Truffles: Recipe

Break the chocolate into squares and blitz in the food processor until it looks granular, like sugar.

Place the cream, butter and whiskey (or alcohol of your choice) in a saucepan and bring to simmering point.

With the motor of the food processor on, pour the heated cream mixture through the feeder of the processor and blend until smooth.

Add the yogurt to the mixture and blend.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and allow to cool.  When cool, cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge overnight. The mixture will be quite runny, this is normal and it will thicken up overnight.

In the morning, lay out small paper cases to present the truffles in. Then, take the mixture out of the fridge, divide into balls (to make the different flavour truffles), remembering to leave each ball in the fridge until you need it, to prevent it from melting.

Plain Truffles: Sift the cocoa powder on to a flat plate. Take a heaped half teaspoon of the mixture and either dust with cocoa powder for a rustic look or dust your hands with icing sugar, roll the mixture into a ball and then roll in the cocoa.  Place the truffle in a paper case. Remember to try to handle the truffle as little as possible to prevent it melting.

Vermicelli Truffles: Sprinkle the vermicelli on to a flat plate. Take a batch of mixture and after dusting your hands in icing sugar, roll a heaped teaspoon of mixture in the vermicelli to form a coating.

Coconut Truffles: Repeat the instructions as above, using coconut instead of vermicelli.

There are many variations you could make to this dairy free truffle recipe including:

• different alcohol – rum, brandy, champagne, malibu, port
• use quality white chocolate for white chocolate truffles (this will contain dairy & sugar)
• mix in some finely chopped preserved ginger
• roll the truffle in a coating of finely chopped toasted almonds
• you could add an egg yolk during the blitzing process to make the mixture that bit richer
• you could also play around with spices such as chilli / cardammon or strong coffee to give the truffles a more exotic flavour

The world of dairy free truffles is your oyster - get stuck in, get messy and enjoy (and if it’s a special Valentines gift, the recipient will definitely be feeling the love!).

Happy Valentines Day Fussy Foodies!

Valentines Truffles

* NOTE – I found this recipe on Delia Smiths website and have tweaked it to make the truffles fussy foodie friendly.

Bircher Muesli was developed in the 1900s by a Swiss physician Maximillian Bircher-Benner.  The original recipe used uncooked rolled oats soaked in water overnight to soften them, then mixed with a spoonful of lemon juice, apple, nuts and sweetened condensed milk.  The recipe has been passed on over the years, allowing for slight tweaks to account for personal tastes and seasonal produce.

Here’s the recipe Tim used for our Bircher Muesli:

Bircher Muesli

Bircher Muesli Ingredients

(makes approx. 4 servings)

• 2 cups of rolled oats
• 1/4 cup of dessicated coconut
• 1/2 cup of sultanas
• Handful of chopped blueberries
• 1 apple, grated
• 1 pear, grated
• 1 cup of orange juice (or fruit juice of your choice)
• 3 tablespoons of goats yogurt (you could use soya / sheeps / cows if you can eat dairy)
• Handful of flaked almonds (or any nuts / seeds of your choice)
• Slices of kiwi (or fruit of your choice)

Bircher Muesli Recipe

Put the oats, sultanas, coconut, chopped blueberries and orange juice into a bowl.  Mix together, cover and leave in the fridge to soak overnight.

In the morning grate the apple and pear and add to the mixture, then stir in the yogurt.  Mix until all the ingredients are combined.  Serve into individual bowls, sprinkle over some flaked almonds and add slices of your seasonal fruit.

Top Tips

• Soaking the oats in water overnight instead of fruit juice will reduce the acidity.  Alternatively, you could use part juice part water to keep some of the flavour.
• You can reduce / increase the amount of fruit juice (or fluid) you add to achieve the consistency you desire.  Remember, the oats will absorb some of the juice overnight so be careful to add enough fluid so that the mixture keeps a smooth texture.
• The ingredients can be adapted to suit your personal tastes – a whole array of dried fruits, nuts, seeds and fresh fruits can be used to create different flavours.
• The yogurt gives the muesli a delicious creamy, rich texture.  If you are conscious about the fat content, you could choose to leave the yogurt out.

Bircher Muesli is such a simple recipe and definitely worth the preparation the night before. The chilled oat and yogurt mixture combined with the crunch of the fruit and the sharpness of the kiwi was mouth watering.  This is definitely a breakfast I’ll be having a lot more frequently and big thanks go to Tim for introducing me to it!

Mayo free coleslaw ingredients:

• A mix of fresh veggies: e.g carrots, fennel, beetroot, red onion, cucumber, radishes, red cabbage,
• 1 lemon
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Some fresh herbs – mixed but mint is great
• 1 cup of goats yoghurt
• 2 tablespoons mustard (check ingredients as a lot of mustard has sugar in and other things)
• Salt and pepper

First step is to prepare all the veggies, I think you need atleast 4 types, I used: beetroot, carrot, red onion, cucumber and radish. Clean and peel and cut veggies ready to slice.

The veggies then need to be shredded ideally in a mandoline, or use the julienne slicer in your food processor. I used the thin slicer in my food processor didn’t look as glam but still tasty and fast.

Put the veggies into a mixing bowl and combine.

In a separate bowl, combine half the juice of a lemon, a glug of olive oil, any chopped herbs, goats yoghurt and mustard. Then season to taste.

Pour dressing over the veggies and mix well. Enjoy!

Credit for this mayo free coleslaw recipe goes to Jamie Oliver for his winter coleslaw recipe which I have tweaked to be Fussy Foodie friendly.