RAW Fudge-y Coffee Brownie Truffles

With Valentine's Day approaching, we're all thinking chocolate....here is an alternative chocolate dessert. Ok, so they're not super pretty to look at, but these little guilt-free treats are REALLY good!

I'm really apprehensive when it comes to 'raw' recipes....most 'raw' things I've had have been pretty scary. But I want to learn more about it so that I can find things that actually taste good. I'm sure a lot of people feel that way when going from a meat-eating diet to vegetarianism. Anyway, there are a lot of vegan recipes that actually taste pretty good and I'm always interested in tried & true....

While perusing some food blogs, I found this recipe on a food blog I am now in love with (http://www.bakingwithbasil.com/) and am absolutely DELIGHTED at how delicious these are! Check out Brooke's great blog. Many of us need our chocolate fix, but need to find less fattening ways to sustain our love affair...give these a try. I hope you like them. I have 3 more raw truffle-like recipes waiting to be tried out...since the first experiment went well. You can find pitted dates next to the raisins and other dried fruit at your grocery store. And most of them shouldn't have sugar--unfortunately mine did, but that also allowed for super dark cocoa to be used. Yum......

RAW FUDGE-Y COFFEE BROWNIE TRUFFLES
Adapted from Baking With Basil

Makes approximately 16 'truffles'

1/2 cup unsalted cashews
1 1/4 cup pitted dates (I used an 8 oz. package of diced, pitted dates)
4-5 Tbsp. cocoa powder (I used dark cocoa since my dates had sugar listed in the ingredients)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2-1 tsp. instant coffee

In a food processor, chop/blend all ingredients. (Or you can chop the nuts finely and set aside. Then you can place the dates in a mini food processor and chop/grind for about 2-3 minutes until they are in small pieces. Add cashews, vanilla, chocolate, and instant coffee. Mix until all ingredients are combined.) The mixture will be somewhat sticky.

Roll into bite size balls. Store in fridge (my experience has been that they hold up better when cool). I got about 15-16 truffles and I think I will double the recipe next time.

Mine turned out slightly darker because I processed the nuts finer, but as mentioned above, you can chop them and retain the polka dot look as can be seen in the original post.