Vegan truffles are an easy & healthy holiday dessert! A creamy coconut and chocolate base rolled in pistachios makes a yummy, no-bake, gluten-free treat.
All you non-bakers out there, this one is for you. So far in this holiday season I haven’t baked one cookie, shopped for one gift… and I have a tree somewhere in a storage unit.
So, today, I have the perfect busy-person dessert that’s fast & easy, yet tasty & impressive. And you likely already have these few ingredients in your kitchen.
It’s a super basic recipe, but feel free to get creative and make a few variations. Add liqueur into your chocolate if that’s your thing… cinnamon, chiles, orange zest, espresso powder… whatever you like. Your pantry is the limit.
adapted from Vegetarian Times
Vegan Pistachio Coconut Truffles
- 1 (12 ounce) package of dark (65% cacao) chocolate chips, or chopped semi-sweet baking chocolate (I enjoy the Sunspire brand, which is vegan & gluten free)
- ½ cup full-fat coconut milk
- Tiny splash of vanilla
- ½ cup raw chopped pistachios
- ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut (optional)
- Sea salt
- Melt the chocolate chips in a large glass bowl over a small pot of simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the coconut milk and vanilla.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
- Toast the pistachios with a little bit of sea salt, and spread a thin layer on a plate.
- Place the coconut and a few pinches of salt on a separate plate. Scoop 1-inch balls of chocolate mixture and roll them into the toppings. Use your hands to get it all to stick together. Store, covered, in the fridge.
Wow!! so good! especially the coconut version
do you about how many truffles this recipe will make? thanks!
Simple, easy & delicious!
Oh my, these look incredible, Jeanine. Really can’t get enough chocolate this season (or any season, really).
Do you use refrigerated or shelved coconut milk? Which would work better?
from the can (from the shelf). I’m pretty sure the refrigerated kinds don’t contain as much fat as the full-fat canned version, so I would definitely use that.
These look amazing – brilliant to use coconut milk in place of cream.
I’m in love with your photography and site design – want to cook your entire blog! Looking forward to reading more. 🙂
thank you! Yep, I can’t really have cream so I love to use coconut milk!
I made a bunch of these, flavored with cinnamon and chile and coated in melted chocolate and cocoa powder. SO amazing. My vegan/dairy-intolerant friends were so thankful. The coconut milk ganache tastes just as rich, smooth and creamy as regular truffles, but the coconut has a subtle fruitiness that is beautiful with the chocolate. (I posted them here: http://www.bojongourmet.com/2012/12/vegan-chocolate-chile-coconut-milk.html) Thank you so much for the inspiration! I plan to make these again and again, and can’t wait to try other flavors – espresso sounds super good.
These are so incredibly beautiful Jeanine (and I’m pretty sure they taste even better). I always find that a few handmade truffles go down so well at this time of year.
haha yes! Great minds think alike, I posted a recipe for dark chocolate peppermint truffles earlier this week. I was definitely dreaming of a version with nuts and a little sea salt though too. These look amazing!
These are perfect for holiday gatherings involving friends with various allergies and my resulting long list of ingredients to avoid in order to accommodate everyone — and they’re pretty to boot!! Thank you (:
sounds like you’re a very nice host, working so hard to accomodate everyone!
Wow, these photos look fantastic. And these truffles look delicious. I might have to give some vegan truffles a go.
Who knew this could be so easy? Wow, love this! Thanks!
YUM! These look delicious and super easy. Love the contrasting colors in the toppings in the photo 🙂