Rich chocolate praline truffles made with a secret ingredient, homemade praline caramel crumbs mixed in the fudgy creamy center, and coated in a dark chocolate shell. Also vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free.
Chocolate Praline Truffles make the perfect holiday gift as well as an energizing afternoon chocolate boost. This easy recipe not only produces velvety chocolate truffles, but also shows you how to make praline, that delicious toffee, caramel candy.
My praline can be broken into crumbs and added to these truffles but also sprinkled on ice cream or frosting and directly in your mouth. So many wild and wonderful uses for praline crumbs.
Now, there are a few steps here, though, so if you have truffles on your mind and want some in 15 minutes try my brownie truffles or my sugar cookie truffles.
What Are Chocolate Pralines?
Pralines are candy similar to hard toffee or hardened caramel. It is often made with heavy cream, but I used coconut cream to keep it vegan. It is often made into patties and flavored chocolate, but I kept mine golden and created praline crumbs.
Praline crumbs are awesome because they can be sprinkled on ice cream, cakes and cupcakes, and folded into - you guessed it - truffles.
The addition of golden praline crumbs into velvety chocolate truffle create an interesting crunch to the truffles. Think Ferrero Rocher only with toffee bits.
Ingredients
I'll start with the ingredients you'll need to make the praline crumbs.
1. Two sugars. Cane sugar and brown sugar. I use organic cane sugar and coconut palm sugar.
2. Full Fat Coconut Milk. Use the type found in a can, and be sure you use it at room temperature. Shake the can well before measuring to be sure the fat and milk are blended. Use a quality brand that has only coconut, water and perhaps guar gum. Nothing else.
3. Butter. I used vegan butter. You don't need much of this.
4. Vanilla
Next you'll need ingredients to make the truffles.
1. Dark chocolate chips. I use Enjoylife. For this recipe both the 60% cacao semi-sweet work and also their dark 70% chips. But you can also use your favorite dark chocolate chips provided they are a quality brand, only have cacao butter and a few other ingredients. And are at least 60% cacao.
2. Again, full fat coconut milk. Use the type found in a can, and also be sure you use it at room temperature, shaking it well and starting with a quality brand with only coconut, water and perhaps guar gum.
Steps to Make Praline
Step 1: Put all four ingredients into a sauce pan, set it on the stove and turn heat to medium.
Step 2: Stir the ingredients until they all melt and turn golden, then stop stirring. Let the mixture come to a boil, and stir only occasionally while it boils. Watch it closely - don't let it burn.
Step 3: Boil for about 5 minutes or until the texture turns into a sheen, and when you stir, the mixture stringly sticks to side of pan. (no that's not a word)
Step 4: Pour this mixture onto a parchment lined pan, tap and use a spoon to smooth it out like bark, and let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes until it's hardened.
Step 5: Break it up, and either blend or food process it until you have a crumb. Be careful not to process too long or it will turn to paste. Set aside the praline crumbs and go make the truffles.
Steps to Make Truffles
Step 1: Add half the chocolate chips to a bowl. Be sure can of coconut milk is shaken and at room temperature. If not, open the can and set in a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes and stir until uniform.
Step 2: Melt 1 cup of the chips in a microwave at 60 seconds or water bath, and stir in the coconut milk. <
Step 3: Once the chocolate is glossy, add in the butter and vanilla and stir until butter is melted. If you need to microwave it to help with more melted, do so in 10 second increments.
Step 4: Fold in the crumbs, and set the mixture in the refrigerate for 20 minutes until it sets.
Step 5: Scoop and coat or dust with cocoa and set. Store these gems in a sealed container for 1 week refrigerated.
Recipe Tips
1. Don't overheat and over-stir the praline mixture or it will quickly go from a smooth shiny texture to a grainy one. Since we are making crumbs, that's not a huge issue, but if you want a smoother texture to start, just add 1 tablespoon of boiling water to the pot and see if that smooths it out.
2. To keep this recipe vegan, I used coconut milk and vegan butter.
3. I always use organic cane sugar because it tastes better and because if you choose a brand with the fair trade seal, sugar cane workers were presumably treated better for this brand. However, if you only have regular cane sugar in stock, use that.
Substitutions
Swap praline crumbs. If you want to bypass the praline step, simply add mini chocolate chips or crushed cookie crumbs to your truffle mixture.
Don't coat, roll. Instead of coating the truffles in chocolate, roll them chilled in unsweetened cocoa.
Trouble Shooting
Praline mixture is grainy. This happens if you over stir. Add a little boiling water and keep stirring to make it smooth again. For crumbs though, it doesn't matter if your final solid praline is a bit grainy.
Chocolate coating mixture becomes oddly solid. This is called 'seizing' and happens when the melted chocolate came into contact with water. Sometimes it is ruined but sometimes if you heat it in a water bath (set a pyrex measuring cup in boiling water) and stir, it will resume a smooth texture.
More Truffle Recipes
- chocolate black pepper truffles
- chocolate coconut balls
- chocolate sugar cookie truffles
- chocolate vegan truffles
- chocolate hazelnut truffles
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Chocolate Praline Truffles
Ingredients
Praline
- ½ cup organic cane sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar or coconut palm sugar
- ⅓ cup canned coconut milk room temperature
- 2 tablespoon butter room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Truffles
- 2 cups chocolate chips
- ⅓ cup coconut milk, canned and full-fat room temperature
- 1 tablespoon butter room temperature
- pinch of salt
- ½ cup praline crumbs (recipe in this post) Or fold in ¼ cup mini chocolate chips instead
Instructions
Make the Praline
- Line a quarter sheet with parchment paper.
- Put all four ingredients into a sauce pan, set it on the stove and turn heat to medium. Stir the ingredients until they all melt and turn golden, then stop stirring. Let the mixture come to a boil, and stir only occasionally while it boils. Boil for at least 6 minutes or until bubble dull in sheen, and when you stir, the mixture stringly sticks to side of pan.
- Pour the mixture onto the lined pan and smooth it out like bark. Set it aside to harden, about 20 minutes at room temperature.
- Break up the bark into chunks and grind them up in a high speed blender or a food processor. Don't grind too long or it will turn to paste. You just want crumbs. Set aside and make the truffles.
Make Truffles
- Melt 1 cup of the chips in a microwave at 60 seconds or water bath, and stir in the coconut milk. Once chocolate is glossy, add in the butter and vanilla and stir until butter is melted. If you need to microwave it to help with more melted, do so in 10 second increments.
- Pour the mixture into a bowl and fold in the praline crumbs. I folded in about ½ cup of crumbs and set the rest aside in a container in the refrigerator for sprinkling on other desserts. OR if you don't want to make the praline, fold in ¼ cup mini chocolate chips instead.
- Set the bowl in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or a bit less until it is scoopable so you can make balls.
Make Praline Truffles
- I scooped using a small cookie scoop, rolled them with clean hands and placed them on a freshly lined pan. If the mixture sticks to your hands, dust your hands with cocoa powder.
- Set the rolled truffles into the refrigerator for a few minutes to harden for dipping.
Dip Truffles
- Melt the remaining chips in the microwave. I used a 2-cup pyrex measuring cup so it is deep enough for dipping. Microwave at 60 seconds and stir until all chips are melted.
- Dip each truffle into the melted chocolate, and spin to allow excess to drip off. Use a fork to lower the truffle for dipping or a tooth pick to dip.
- Sprinkle the truffles with nuts or sprinkles and set back in refrigerator to harden.
- Store Chocolate Praline Truffles in an airtight container in refrigerator for 1 week.
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