Vegan Lavender Cream Truffles

Ingredients

1/4 cup vegan butter (I use Earth Balance)
2 tablespoons icing sugar
1 tablespoon culinary lavender buds
2 teaspoons purple sweet potato powder*
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
300 grams good quality dark chocolate (3 standard bars)

Instructions

Place the lavender buds in a coffee/spice grinder, making sure to pick out any stems or leaves, and grind until it is a fine powder.
In a small mixing bowl place the butter, icing sugar, vanilla, purple sweet potato powder and ground lavender. Using a hand mixer, beat until it is smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Cover and place in the fridge to firm.
In the meantime, break the chocolate into small pieces and place into a medium sized bowl. Fill a small pot with 2 inches of water and place the bowl of chocolate on top of the pot. The water in the pot should not touch the bottom of the bowl. Turn the heat to low-medium. (Double boiler method) Stir the chocolate occasionally as it melts. Alternatively, the chocolate can be melted in the mocrowave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate is melted. Be careful not too burn the chocolate. You want it just melted enough that it is still a bit thick but pourable, not too runny/thin.
If using a silicon truffle mold, place it on a cutting board or baking sheet, making it easier to take in and out of the fridge. Once the chocolate has melted, fill each mold with about 1/2 a teaspoon of chocolate or just enough to make a thin even layer on the bottom of the mold. Place into the fridge until set, about 10-15 minutes.
While the chocolate is setting, take the filling out from the fridge and put it into a piping bag or ziplock bag. If using a ziplock bag, push the filling into one corner of the bag and snip the tip so that the opening is about 1/8th of an inch.
Remove the mold from the fridge and pipe the filling into each truffle, making sure not to touch the sides of the mold with the filling. We want the melted chocolate to cover the sides.
If the leftover chocolate has solidified place it back on to the pot and melt it again (if your chocolate is still melted and pourable skip this step). Fill each mold to the top with the chocolate. Gently tap the mold on the counter to get rid of any air bubbles and to ensure that the molds are filled all of the way up. If some of the truffles are overfilled with chocolate you can use a pastry/bench scraper to remove any excess chocolate by sweeping it across the mold with light pressure to create a flat surface. Place into the fridge to set, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from the molds and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. Eat them straight out of the fridge for a snappy firm truffle or let them come to room temperature for a soft, creamy truffle. Enjoy!

Notes

*If you don’t have purple sweet potato powder (ube powder) you can try substituting it with dried blueberry powder, acai powder or taro powder. I haven’t tried all of them but I feel as though they should work. You can also skip the coloring, leaving it a natural cream color, as it will still be flavored with lavender.

**I recommend using good quality dark chocolate instead of chocolate chips. My favourite high quality vegan dark chocolate bars are Camino, Endangered Species, Theo and Lindt 70% just to name a few!

***The yield of the recipe depends on the size of your mold. The mold I used has small squares each L 1.25”x W 1.25”x H 0.5” which made 20 truffles.

Nutrition