Homemade Frozen Chocolate Truffles

As you all know, this Thursday is Valentine’s Day. To put it nicely, I detest this “holiday.” Whether you have a significant other or not, what the day has become makes me ill. Pink and red have plastered drug stores and department stores since Christmas ended. Retailers have lined their displays with overly animated cards, teddy bears that are soon forgotten, and all the while shoving lingerie and chocolate down your throat. Aside from the consumer aspect boyfriends/girlfriends act like this is the one day of the year that they have to make an effort to make their S.O. feel special—it’s an overly commercialized cop out. Aside from my rant…

Though I’m not the biggest fan of the holiday, I thought today’s post should provide you with something that can be made both this Thursday and any other day of the year you want a delectable homemade treat. Enjoy!

Ingredients

∞ 1 bag chocolate chips (whichever variety you prefer)
∞ Sweetened vanilla almond milk
∞ Vanilla extract
∞ Sea Salt
∞ 2 bananas, ripened to your liking
∞ Crunchy peanut butter (or smooth if you prefer)
∞ Peanut Butter & Co’s Cinnamon Raisin Swirl, [if you have not tried this cinnamon raisin swirl peanut butter you may be doing your taste buds an injustice]
∞ Rubber ice cube tray in heart shapes—yes, I used stars, but I was making these for a birthday 😛 NOTE: Standard plastic ice cube trays will not work—they crack and break while trying to remove the completed truffle. You need the rubber kind as they provide easy truffle removal. I bought mine at TJ Maxx/Homegoods, but I’ve seen them at The Container Store and Ace Hardware, too.
∞ 3 small separate dishes, to mix the fillings in

In a small pot over medium-low heat combine the bag of chocolate chips with a teaspoon of salt. It may take 5mins or so for the chocolate to start to melt (especially if you keep yours in the freezer). Stir every 2mins or so to ensure the chocolate won’t burn or cake onto the pot. Once melted, turn heat to a very low temp. This will ensure that the chocolate still stays malleable because you’ll need it again in step 5.
Once the chocolate is fully melted, add a small amount to each ice cube star/heart. Make sure to add enough to cover each inside “wall” of the shape, as this will be the bottom layer of chocolate for the chocolate. Once each is semi filled, place tray in freezer for 20-30mins. This allows the chocolate to harden to a shell.
As the chocolate is hardening in the freezer, make the filling(s). You can opt to make one, but I wanted to try all three for variety. Creamy Banana Filling: dice the banana as small as you can—this will make it easy when you mash it. In a small dish pour in 1-2 tsp almond milk and add banana. Mash the two with the back of a spoon until mostly creamy with a few banana chunks left. Set aside. Peanut Butter Banana Filling: again, dice the banana as small as you can. In a small dish add a generous spoonful of peanut butter, pour in 1-2 tsp almond milk, and add banana. Mash ingredients with the back of a spoon until mostly creamy with a few banana chunks left. Set aside. Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Filling: In a small dish combine 2 generous spoonfuls of the cinnamon raisin peanut butter with 2 tsp almond milk. Mash with the back of a spoon until creamy. Add almond milk as needed. Set aside.
Remove the tray from the freezer, and put a small dollop of filling in each hardened shell. I chose to do a row for each, just to keep it organized and remember which one was which. NOTE: Unlike my picture below, try to make sure that the filling is not too high over the edge of the shape. This will make it hard to enclose the truffle in the next step—they will still be yummy either way though.
Top each filled shape with a bit of chocolate. This is going to be the bottom of the truffle. Once each one is covered, pop the tray in the freezer again for another 30-45mins. Once they all have hardened chocolate shells, take out and enjoy! NOTE: if you do decide to make the Cinnamon Raisin Swirl ones, you may want to take these out 15-20mins before eating to ensure that the middle isn’t rock hard.