Orange Chocolate Truffles

With a particular romantically inclined holiday coming up, the best way to say I love you is with these amazing orange chocolate truffles!

You might think all the valuable nutrition in a fruit or vegetable is underneath its protective peel, but don’t be so quick to throw that orange rind into the trash. The flesh of a typical orange dishes out 40 mg of calcium, while its peel contains 161 mg of calcium. And, as with all orange and yellow fruits and vegetables, the peel contains beta carotene, a pigment that converts to vitamin A in the body, which benefits both your vision and your immune system.

If you’re going to be making use of the peel or skin of produce, you might want to consider buying organic. The peels of conventionally grown crops will be coated in many pesticides, preservatives, or protectants applied during the growing, harvesting or transportation phases of production. When shopping, you’ll be able to tell if a fruit or vegetable is organic by the sticker. If the five-digit number on the sticker starts with a 9, it’s certified organic.A four-digit number generally signifies the item was not grown using organic standards. Another benefit to choosing organic over conventional: organic typically has more nutrients. This is in part because organically grown fruits and vegetables grow at a natural rate, with their nutrients in balance. Conventional fertilizers encourage plants to grow very rapidly, thus giving them less time and energy to develop their nutrient potential.

Orange Chocolate Truffles

Tasty and fudge-like. If you like the orange flavor, you can turn up the volume by adding a little more orange zest.

Yield: 20–26 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 3/4 cup Medjool dates, pitted
• Rind of 1 orange
• 1/4 cup cacao powder
• Pinch unrefined salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon orange juice

Directions:

Put the almonds, walnuts, and salt in a food processor fitted with theS blade and process until finely ground. Add the dates, cacao powder, and cinnamon. Process until the mixture begins to stick together. Pulse in orange rind and then pulse in orange juice. Add additional juice if needed for mixture to bind well together, just a few drops at a time. Take 2 teaspoon portions of the mixture, and roll into balls or form into bite size squares. Continue until all mixture is used. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Orange Chocolate Truffles will keep 10 days in the refrigerator and 3 months in the freezer. It’s the perfect gift: made with love for the one you love.

For other do-it-yourself chocolate options, try this recipe out!