I am so excited to share this recipe because it is absolutely delicious, easy to make, reasonably healthy and everyone who has tried it so far has loved it!
One of the other great things about it is it’s vegan, gluten free and can even be paleo depending on what sweetener/chocolate is used. It’s pretty much good for every diet with the exception of people who don’t like coconut of course 🙂
I have made it a couple different ways so you can read through all my notes and instructions or just skip to the bottom for the recipe & variations. Let’s get to it!

This is the finished product made the “lazy way”.

First things, first. This recipe can be made with pretty much any sweetener you like. I have used brown rice syrup (a gooey sweetener similar to honey) and the final product is a smooth, creamy filling-like a truffle. So for gooey sweeteners you could use brown rice syrup (lowest sugar content of all sweeteners), honey (this would make it paleo but not vegan) or pure maple syrup (this would be a tad more runny though).
The down side of of using honey/brown rice syrup/maple syrup is that it can get expensive-especially if you are making large batches for parties, etc. So I made a version of this recipe that just uses regular ol’ white sugar but you could also use coconut sugar or whatever form of sugar you are in to. Stevia would probably even work if you are going for a completely sugar free treat. The final product of the sugar version is not as creamy. The coconut retains it’s flake and the result is more like a “mounds” candy bar.

I did a bit of research on sugar when I was coming up with this recipe because I was trying to figure out which sweetener is really “the best”. You know what I found? Regular ol’ white sugar actually has less sugar per teaspoon than any other sweetener with the exception of brown rice syrup. But brown rice syrup has more calories than regular sugar. So what is best? I personally fall into the category of people who believe sugar is sugar whether it comes from honey or refined sugar. None of it is really good for us and it should be used sparingly no matter where it comes from. Plus, when I believe something is “healthy” I will eat about 10 times as much which totally defeats the purpose of a healthy treat.

Back on track. Let’s talk about the chocolate coating. You can use whatever chocolate chips you like. To make it vegan and paleo use Enjoy Life chocolate chips. To make it just vegan-most dark chocolate is vegan so that’s easy. Use whatever chocolate or chocolate chip floats your boat.

There are two options for making the chocolate coating:
Lazy way: Melt chocolate chips in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl for 1 minute and stir until they are melted. Heat 10 seconds at a time if needed. Toss all the (frozen) balls in the bowl of melted chocolate and stir to coat. Spoon any excess chocolate over the balls to cover any bald spots.

This method is not the most visually appealing but it IS fast and easy.

Fancy way: Melt chocolate chips using double boiler method. Create a double boiler by heating water in a sauce pan and placing a glass bowl on top of the pot. Do not boil the water, just get it warm. Melt the chocolate in the top bowl. Here is my double boiler:

When the chocolate is melted remove the bowl from the heat.

Individually dip each ball of (frozen) coconut mixture into the chocolate. This method will use more chocolate but it will also look nicer.

Here is what the coconut balls will look like:

I could eat them just like this!

Here is the recipe:

Dark Chocolate Coconut Truffles
Makes 30 bite size truffles

2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut, lightly packed
1/4 cup brown rice syrup OR 1/4 cup regular sugar + 2 tablespoons nondairy milk (see notes above)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons coconut oil, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (or chocolate chips of your choice)

Place all ingredients except the chocolate chips in a food processor. If your coconut oil is rock hard, soften it a bit first but not to the point it is liquid. If your coconut oil is liquid that is ok, your “batter” will just have to be refrigerated for a while before it can be formed into bite size pieces.
Process the mixture for several seconds to a minute. It should form a dough ball, unless you are using liquid oil. Once it forms a nice ball you are good to proceed. If your oil was liquid just pulse until everything is combined then place in the refrigerator for 10 or so minutes until it’s firm enough to be formed into bite size pieces.
Line a small cutting board or baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the coconut mixture into bite size balls and place on the lined board. Refrigerate or freeze the balls for 30 minutes or longer.
Once the balls are ready to be coated in chocolate melt the chocolate chips either in the microwave or using a double boiler.
Coat the balls in the chocolate using either the lazy method or the fancy method described above. Place the coated balls back on the parchment paper lined tray and freeze or refrigerate until the chocolate has hardened.
Store in the refrigerator and allow to thaw for 5 minutes before eating.

Now good luck not eating the entire batch!