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Towards the end of the first quarter of my junior year of college, a friend approached me for help with studying for his upper division Organic Chemistry III final. Although we had been in the same classes for Parts I and II, he had a scheduling conflict with an engineering class during the previous spring quarter and postponed taking the last section. Â
Knowing the professor in charge of Part III that fall quarter and that person’s lackluster teaching style, I agreed and handed him my thick binder crammed full of notes, study guides, and practice exams. His eyes widened at the sight, but he eagerly took it and got to work.
At the end of finals week, as I cleaned my apartment and prepared to drive home for the holiday break, I heard a knock on my door. When I pulled it open, my friend stood on my welcome mat, holding my binder and a daintily wrapped white box. He gave them both to me, sharing that he earned an A on his final exam and passed the class, thanks to my detailed notes!
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When I opened the box back inside my apartment, I nearly gasped… I found a dozen gourmet dark chocolate truffles as a thank you gift! He had picked them out from a specialty chocolate shop in town famous for its decadent handcrafted treats, and after reading the insert that described each truffle’s flavor, I slowly savored them over the next week.
Pure dark chocolate… Caramel… Chocolate chip… Cherry… Mint… Toasted almond… Walnut… Apricot… Coconut… Amaretto… Grand Mernier… Kahlua… To this day, I still haven’t found any specialty chocolate shop selling truffles that rival those!
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Since I no longer live in that college town (and since my wallet and waistline can’t quite tolerate a daily gourmet truffle habit!), I whipped up these Healthy Dark Chocolate Orange Truffles for my family to enjoy on Valentine’s Day! With just 4 wholesome ingredients and no heavy cream or sugar, they’re really easy to make. Plus they’re only 21 calories!
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You’ll start with unsweetened cocoa powder. Since you’re using a full cup and no melted chocolate (hooray for easy clean-up!), just regular ol’ unsweetened is fine! The truffles already taste really dark and rich without Dutched or special dark cocoa powder.
Make sure you measure the cocoa powder correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale! Too much cocoa powder will make the truffle mixture too dry to come together, and it’ll also make your truffles taste bitter. I highly recommend this kitchen scale that I own. It has been the best $20 that I’ve ever spent, and I use it to create every recipe that I share with you because it ensures my treats turn out with the perfect taste and texture every time.
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Next, you’ll mix orange zest into the cocoa powder. Don’t skip the zest! It actually provides the majority of the orange flavor. Then comes orange juice and pure maple syrup for sweetness. That’s it—all 4 ingredients!
After chilling the mixture, you’ll roll it into spheres to form each truffle. The chocolate mixture tends to stick to your hands a bit, so wipe them off with a damp paper towel after shaping each truffle.
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How easy and decadent is that? ??? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your truffles and feature them in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| Dark Chocolate Orange Truffles | | Print |
- 1 cup (80g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp orange zest
- ¼ cup (60mL) freshly squeezed orange juice (about 1 small)
- 3 tbsp (45mL) pure maple syrup
- Stir together the cocoa powder and orange zest in a small bowl. Make a well in the center. Pour in the orange juice and maple syrup. Stir until everything is completely incorporated. (It takes a bit of effort!) Chill the chocolate mixture for at least 30 minutes. (If chilling for longer than 2 hours, cover the top of the bowl. with foil or plastic wrap to prevent the chocolate mixture from drying out.)
- Line a baking sheet with wax paper.
- Remove the chocolate mixture from the refrigerator, and roll it into 16 small spheres. After shaping each truffle, place it on the prepared baking sheet. Once all of the truffles have been formed, transfer them to an airtight container. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Honey or agave may be substituted for the maple syrup.
For a sweeter flavor, substitute additional maple syrup for an equal amount of orange juice.
For a stronger orange flavor, increase the orange zest by an additional ½ to 1 teaspoon.
The chocolate mixture tends to stick to your hands a bit, so wipe off your hands with a damp paper towel after shaping each truffle.
Here is my video on how to make truffles! (It's located right above the recipe!)
{gluten-free, vegan, clean eating, low fat, low calorie, lower carb}
View Nutrition Information
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You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♥   Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffles
♥   Dark Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake Truffles
♥   Dark Chocolate Blueberry Truffles
♥   Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles
♥   Dark Chocolate Peppermint Mocha Truffles
♥   Dark Chocolate Gingerbread Truffles
♥   Dark Chocolate Peppermint Truffles
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YUMMMM! These truffles would work on my crazy diet, Amy!! And I LOVE the orange-chocolate combo- that is one of my favorite combos. I assume that using tangerine zest would impart the same orange flavor, right? That’s all I have on hand right now, so I will give it a try with that and report back!
PS- MISS YOU! We need to plan something soon! <3
YAY!!!! I’m SO thrilled that they work for your diet!!! Yes, tangerines would work perfectly. I can’t wait to hear how the truffles turned out! 🙂 And yes PLEASE! At least a FaceTime coffee date, if not something in person!! ♡
Reporting back- uhhh mazeee ing! YUM! Tangerine zest works great! These seriously melt in your mouth just like full-fat truffles made with cream! SO dark and decadent! 🙂
I’m SO glad you loved the truffles Andrea!! Thanks for taking the time to report back — that means a lot to me! ♡
I made them yesterday, Amy and I am super happy! Delicious, easy to make and mega healthy! Everybody in my family loves them. Thank you very much for this receipt!
I’m so glad you and your family loved the truffles Evelina! That means a lot to me! 🙂
Hi amy, these sound great! But what if u don’t like dark chocolate ? How do I make a less dark version of these ?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Jodie! Unfortunately, these won’t ever be as sweet as milk chocolate truffles. You can replace the orange juice with more maple syrup, but they’ll still be on the dark side of the spectrum. (Probably slightly closer to bittersweet chocolate chips or Hershey’s “special dark” chocolate.) If you decide to try these truffles, I’d love to hear what you think of them! 🙂
Thanks for the helpful advice Amy 🙂 i will definitely have a look into Truvia. the sweet leaf vanilla drops u recommend don’t contain any blue agave in it so it’s great. It’s the Wholesome one that does and which i read is the first ingredient in the ingredients list.i have found from more than one source that blue agave has more fructose than high fructose corn syrup so is therefore worse for you. Would u like to have a look at this link cos i would appreciate ur advice and what u recommend i should read from it https://authoritynutrition.com/agave-nectar-is-even-worse-than-sugar/
Many thanks,
Jodie
Lol sorry this message above is suppose to be a reply to another question I posted bout the dark choc bark.sorry Amy. Thanks again for kind advice will try this recipe with more maple syrup instead of OJ
No worries Jodie!! If made as written using the 100% unsweetened chocolate, the dark chocolate bark will always taste dark, no matter how much sweetener you add. If you prefer a lighter taste, then use a bar of your favorite percentage of chocolate in place of the unsweetened chocolate and stevia ingredients. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear how both treats turn out for you!
You’re welcome Jodie! I appreciate the article that you sent. Since it’s not written by someone with a highly intensive scientific background, nor does it cite enough scientific journal articles for my liking, I’m not too worried about agave. Even if it’s true about its fructose levels, you’d probably have to be consuming at least a gallon of agave or agave-containing products per day, if not more, to experience major side effects. 🙂 So the Wholesome stevia is still perfectly safe to use!
Thank you so much for clearing that up for me Amy!Ur so kind for taking the time to help me understand,i know u must be super busy with blogging and always giving us new content so im very grateful.Lots of love, Jodie
It’s my pleasure Jodie! I did even more research since we last corresponded. Inulin (from any source/plant!) is actually fiber. This means it isn’t sugar and doesn’t contain any type of sugar molecule, including fructose, so there’s basically no danger of fructose consumption with products containing inulin. 🙂
Can’t wait to try these. Looks absolutely delicious. Just wanted to double that we don’t need to bake them ?
Thank you for such an easy and wonderful recipe Amy ?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Naghma! That’s correct — no baking involved in this recipe! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these truffles!
Can these be made into cake pops?
I’m not quite sure what you mean Ella! Do you just want to poke a stick into them? Or do you want to mix them with frosting, like how traditional cake pops are made?
Hi! Yes, poke a stick in them (so that they sit upright on top of the stick) and the coat in chocolate or candy melts. Thanks!
Yes! You can definitely do that with these. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of them Ella!
They look delicious, I can’t wait to try the recipe but in my country we haven’t maple syrup, so how can I substitute it?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Roua! I’ve actually covered the best substitutes in the Notes section underneath the Instructions already. It can be easy to miss that section! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these truffles!
Instead of using zest could you use other flavorings such as candy oils? Also I was wondering if switching maple syrup for the sugar free version would change the calorie amount. I don’t know how to figure out how many calories my baked goods create. Any help would be greatly appreciated 🙂
My question about candy oils was because my nana likes raspberry and though I can juice them…..zesting is out. lol
I have a recipe for dark chocolate raspberry truffles here! Maybe that will be better for your nana! 🙂
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Betty! This is the free nutrition calculator that I use, if you’d like to figure it out! 🙂 I think other readers have had luck with candy oils, but I haven’t personally tried that or sugar-free syrup. I think sugar-free syrup will work in this particular recipe, but it doesn’t always work in my other recipes. I can’t wait to hear what you think of these truffles!
Thanks for sharing! Do they hold their shape well?
Yes! They hold their shape really well. I can’t wait to hear what you think of them Vanessa! 🙂
Two questions from someone known among her friends to be highly challenged in cooking—1) can I use semisweet chocolate chips for this recipe, and 2) I don’t have oranges, only orange juice, how can I go about making the truffles, or can’t I?
Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes. 🙂
I’m so honored that you’d like to try one of my recipes Sandra! 🙂 If you only have orange juice, then the orange flavor will be very subtle in these truffles. The zest actually provides the majority of the citrus flavor! As for the chocolate chips, do you want to add them to the recipe? Or use them in place of the cocoa powder?
I wonder if I used an orange oil instead of the OJ, they would have a longer shelf life and not kept refrigerated. My plan is to dip them in tempered dark chocolate in the end. None of the ingredients except for maybe the OJ is perishable…
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Jenna! If you’d like to substitute orange oil for the orange juice, then you’ll need to add something else (like milk or water) to compensate for the missing liquid. I’m not sure how those modifications will turn out, but I’d love to hear how your truffles turn out if you do try that! 🙂