Dark Chocolate Truffles

An extravagant, yet easy treat!
While there is sugar in chocolate the darker the chocolate, the less sugar - so let yourself splurge every once in a while with something like this. After all, if you're going to cheat - make it worth it!

The ingredients:  8 oz dark chocolate (72%-76% is good, any higher and they crumble!), 1/2 cup heavy cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla, cocoa powder or unsweetened coconut (or both)

Combine the chocolate, cream and vanilla in a mixing bowl. I used the bowl from my kitchen aid. Place that over a pot of boiling water and melt.

 Mix to combine. Once it has melted completely, remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Then whisk for 10 minutes. (This is where the kitchen aid comes in handy)

Before                                                                               After

Transfer the chocolate mixture to a smaller bowl compacting as much as possible. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Then, using a mini-muffin scoop make balls of approx 1 inch in size. Roll between your hands to make as smooth a ball as possible. Then roll in either cocoa powder or toasted coconut. (The coconut will need to be "pressed" into the truffle to make it stick). Eat or freeze for up to 3 months.  

To toast coconut: put raw coconut in the bottom of a clean pan and heat over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring and keeping an eye on it. It will be a nice golden color once it's done.