Delicious and Nutritious Truffles

Tonight a taxi is going to pick me up and take me to the train station. I'll catch the 12.31am train that will take me to Sydney and I am so tired after three days of long work hours, bike riding in the extreme heat, cooking, cleaning, washing and packing, that I really hope I can sleep, or at least doze, on the train. I'll arrive, all going well, in Sydney around 7am and will have three hours to wait for the next train to take me to Singleton. I think I'll head into town for coffee and breakfast. I can't wait to see the family, immediate and extended. It has been ages since we were all together, last November perhaps, so I am really looking forward to it.

Last night I made Nigella's chocolate cheesecake for Jen's birthday. I didn't have any but everyone seemed to like it. It hasn't all been deprivation for me. I was speaking, electronically, to Tricia the other night and she mentioned some truffles that are not only delicious but actually have some nutritional value. I wasn't able to let it go so I walked to the shops at lunch and bought the wherewithal to make them.

The recipe came from here though I fiddled with it a little bit. Don't be put off by words such as vegan and raw (not that there is anything wrong with those ;)) these are scrumptious. Sorry, I forgot to weigh the ingredients to make the recipe more friendly for antipodean types. They are called gingerbread truffles but I confess that even though I doubled the amount of ginger in them, I couldn't really taste it.

1 cup almonds

1 cup walnuts

1/4 cup sultanas

1 cup pitted prunes

1/2 cup dried dates

zest from 1 orange

2 teaspoons of ginger

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

150 g dark chocolate, melted

1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until mixture can be formed into balls.

2. Form into balls and place on a lined tray. Freeze for at least an hour.

Melt chocolate and dip the frozen balls to cover before putting back on the tray. Refrigerate until set.