Debut of the Truffles

Ok so who doesn't LOVE truffles? Uhmm ALIENS, that's who. Since vegans aren't aliens (at least, most of us aren't ;) ) we love truffles too! But how are you supposed to make balls of creamy, chocolaty, buttery goodness without making cows cry? Well I'll tell you how and I'll make it SUGAR-FREE (so really you can eat a whole batch while you watch 'The Big Bang Theory' and only get a LITTLE fat). Did I mention they're raw? Cuz they are.

Introducingggg RAW SUGAR-FREE VEGAN TRUFFLES!!!

You need the following:

• 3 cups shelled pecans (you can also get these frozen, either kind will do)
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 cup cocoa powder (I used dutch-press to make them really rich) and extra for rolling
• 1 cup shredded coconut (optional for those of you freaks who don't like coconut (don't worry about the ratios. Some force of magic makes these bind with or without the coconut))
• 1 teaspoon instant espresso coffee crystals (these are optional but they make your truffles taste like mocha and give you that burst of energy when you gotta stay up for the Sandra Bullock marathon)

The procedure

Toss the pecans into your food processor and grind them until they look like small bread crumbs or coarse sand (make them too big and you'll end up picking pecans out of your teeth for the next few hours and let's face it-there ain't nothin' sexy about blackish bits in between your canines)

Add the rest of the ingredients until the mixture sorta balls or clumps together in a damp, chocolaty mound

Take generous pinches (about one or two tablespoons) of the mixture and roll into balls in the cocoa powder (dust your hands with the cocoa too so that most of the truffle mixture ends up in the balls and not on you!)

Put the balls in a container (don't worry, they won't stick to each other if you used enough cocoa) and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before giving them to real people (if you're alone then you can just sorta eat them right away, go on-no one's stopping you. I won't tell)

The end, yay! And remember, these only make you a LITTLE fat :)

-Virago