The end of year means cooler weather and a couple of months of festivities and celebrations. Diwali is celebrated across India and each region and community celebrates it differently. In the Northern part of India, Diwali involves exchanging gifts with family, friends and colleagues. One popular item for gift giving is an assortment of dried fruit and nuts. Today, I’m sharing a good way to use up left over dry fruits and nuts – Dry Fruit Truffles. You can use whatever you have on hand and these make excellent food gifts for Christmas. I have made many different kinds over the years including Fruit Cake Truffles, Chocolate Sandesh Truffles, Pistachio Covered Lavender Lemon Truffles and Cardamom & Chilli Chocolate Truffles.
There are quite a few stories about the origin of Chocolate Truffles. Some say it was invented at Patisserie Siravdin in Paris, while others point towards Switzerland. One story says French patissier Louis Dufour came up with Chocolate Truffles On Christmas Day 1895 while looking for new ideas for treats for his customers. The most popular one is that it was created accidentally in the kitchen of French chef Georges Auguste Escoffier in the 1920s.
Apparently, one of his apprentices was making pastry cream and accidentally spilt hot cream into a bowl of expensive chopped chocolate. Escoffier stirred the mixture and discovered it cooled and hardened into a thick malleable paste. He shaped it into uneven walnut size balls, rolled them in cocoa powder and Chocolate Truffles were born. They have evolved since over the years, as people have become more creative with them.
These Dry Fruit Truffles are made with figs, dates, raisins, walnuts, cashewnuts, almonds and coconut. You may use fresh or desiccated coconut. Fresh coconut gives a different taste but they don’t keep very long whereas desiccated coconut does. These may be rolled in cocoa powder or dark chocolate as I have done.
Dry Fruit Truffles
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup dried apricots
- 1/2 cup dried figs
- 1/4 cup dried but soft dates
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup walnuts
- 1/4 cup cashewnuts
- 1/4 cup almonds
- 1/4 cup dessicated or fresh coconut
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- 250 gm dark chocolate
Instructions
- Pulse all the dry fruits and the nuts, separately, in a food processor or grinder jar (with the blade for dry food) till chopped to small bits. Mix together with coconut and the cream. Shape into 1-inch balls. Refrigerate for a couple of hours.
- Melt the chocolate over boiling water or in the microwave. Mix in the vanilla. Dip the dry fruit balls in the chocolate and place on a greased cookie sheet or plate to dry. Drizzle more chocolate over them.
- Another slightly easier way of making these truffles is to pour the melted chocolate (as much as necessary) into the dry fruit and nut mixture. Mix well with a spoon and let it cool a bit. Lightly oil your palms and shape the mixture into 1-inch balls. Let them dry out completely and refrigerate.
I'm Aparna and My Diverse Kitchen is my ovo-lacto vegetarian food blog where you'll find recipes, food stories & photography. I've been blogging since 2007 and believe the kitchen, and the dining table (by extension) is really the heart of a home. 
This is easy, but indulgent. And you managed to kill two birds with a single stone 😉
I, unlike you, adore dried fruits…love those truffles of yours 🙂
Delicious. You can give me this any time or better send me some 🙂
Beautiful cookies Aparna, enjoy the holidays!:))
First time on your blog – I love the way your truffles look – very inviting. Now this comes from a chocolate crazed person 😀
Wow these fruit truffles look amazing! I love the swirls of white chocolate on the tops, lovely. 🙂
wow! this looks lovely! yeah, the blogosphere is raining chocolate and i cudnt be happier. thanks for dropping by. who are you getting ur packet from?
wow its a good variation for chocolate truffles..really ..in france christmas is always with chocolate truffles..so imagine no matter how good it is..if its always the same thing..it gets boring after..i love this new touch of preparing truffles..lots of dried fruits..delicious and healthy!!
That’s a lovely idea Aparna and your decorations do look good. Chocolate and dried fruits must make one fantastic combination.
What do I need to say about chocolate? All of you have said it all.Nags, don’t know yet. Just that I am in.