The Brashear Kids: Easy Vegan Truffles

We recently shared this recipe with our students after school and they loved them! Plus they are vegan! Simple ingredients and simple instructions that any child, with some supervision, could easily do by themselves. We thought this might be appropriate as Easter is approaching to having a homemade alternative to the store bought candy.

You will need:

a cutting board

an all purpose knife

a blender or food processor

spoons

a small bowl

wax paper or small cupcake liners (optional)

Ingredients:

1 small (9.5 oz) tub of pitted dates (we used Deglet dates)

4 heaping tbs. of dark chocolate cocoa powder

2 tbs. of coconut oil

1 heaping tbs. of natural peanut butter (nut butter can be substituted for those with allergies)

3 tsp agave nectar

Toppings: (optional)

Chia seeds
Cocoa powder

Powdered sugar

Coconut shavings

Crushed nuts

This recipe is loosely adapted from Natural Sweet Recipe's East Vegan Truffles

1. Chop your dates into small pieces. Supervision is needed here.

2. Place chopped dates in a blender with cocoa powder and blend well making sure all dates have been processed. It will look a little like mud at this point. (One student couldn't help himself and begged to try it at this stage.)

3. Add agave and coconut oil and blend well. It will be a very sticky mixture. Use a spoon to mix everything around to make sure all ingredients are getting mixed together.

4. Add peanut butter and blend well. Scoop out mixture into a small bowl and place in a freezer to chill.

5. Chill for 20-30 minutes. Remove and spoon out small portions and roll into balls like play dough.

6. Roll in your choice of toppings and sit on wax paper or a plate. We also used small cupcake liners to keep them separate as the students made their customized ones.

We made some ahead of time to take to the school to give to the kids and we individually wrapped them in foil like a candy wrapper, this might be a fun way to give as Easter candy.

Overall our students were very excited about making their own "candy" and kept coming back for more. A huge hit with our 4th and 5th graders.