Cherry Chocolate Date Nut Truffles

Published in Our State Magazine February 2015

Well good gracious!  It’s been over five years since I did this recipe and only realized today I’d never shared it here on my blog…  this is a simple recipe to make in just about 20 minutes.  At the time, I sourced a delicious chocolate wine from Shadow Springs Vineyard here in North Carolina… Dark Shadow.
The description…
This wine has a warm chocolate cherry flavor. It is a blend of merlot, cab franc, cab sauv, petit verdot, seyval blanc, and dark chocolate. Yum!!

I see this unbelievably delish wine is still available on their web site. DO get your hands on some if you can.  If not, check your local wine shelves for something similar.

If you can’t do that, try subbing a little bit of similar red wine (or chocolate milk) with a little splash of maraschino cherry juice.  That should work just fine!

Just make some.  And come on over to my FB community and talk about them…

Print Recipe

Cherry Chocolate Date Nut Truffles

Fifteen minutes, a few pantry items, and a North Carolina wine are all it takes to make these bite-size treats. They’re almost as easy to make as they are to eat.

Created for and published in Our State Magazine February 2015.

Gluten Free, depending on aging barrels.

Course: Dessert, Sweet Treats

Cuisine: American, Southern Desserts

Keyword: cherry, chocolate, red wine, shadow springs vineyard, truffles

Author: Wendy Perry

Ingredients

• 2 cups nuts, any kind
• pinch salt, omit if using salted nuts
• 1 cup dried unsweetened cherries
• 1 ½ cups dates, whole or chopped
• ¼ cup Shadow Springs Vineyard Dark Shadow wine
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1 cup flaked coconut

Instructions

• Place nuts, salt, cherries, dates, wine, and extracts into a food processor. Pulse until fruit is finely chopped. The mixture will be a sticky paste. 
• Put mixture into a bowl and incorporate chocolate chips by hand. (At this point, the mixture can be kept for several days, covered, in the refrigerator.)
• Toast half of the coconut in a nonstick skillet or on a microwave-safe plate. In a small bowl, mix toasted and untoasted coconut flakes together.
• Pinch mixture and roll by hand into 1-inch balls. Roll balls in coconut and refrigerate until firm. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Notes

Tip: You can use any single kind of nut, but this is a great recipe to use a mixture of leftover nuts. And although not necessary, toasting them will add another layer of flavor.