Apricot Truffles

While home in Arizona a couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to experience some homemade chocolates lovingly made by my mom and grandmother.  The original recipe came from Ellie Krieger and was delightful.  The best thing about these tasty treats is that they are only about 80 calories a piece!  I took a crack at making a batch this past weekend for the Oscar’s, but changed it up a bit.  Below is my slightly twisted version (I used candied ginger pieces instead of ground ginger powder and didn’t use as much honey as recommended in Ellie’s recipe).  Try it this weekend!  Have a good one!

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups of dried Turkish apricots

½ cup of whole raw almonds

½  table spoon of honey

½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Smidge of salt

A few chunks of uncrystallized candied ginger to taste (depending on how ‘spicy’ you like it!)

3 oz. dark chocolate (the darker the better for me!)

Place the almonds in a dry skillet over a medium-high heat and cook, stirring frequently, until they are toasted and become fragrant, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

Put the almonds into a food processor and pulse a few times until the nuts are coarsely chopped.

Add the apricots, honey, cinnamon, ginger and salt to the processor and process until the ingredients are finely chopped and begin to stick together, about 45 seconds.

Roll the mixture with your hands into heaping teaspoon-sized balls and set them on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper.

CAREFULLY melt the chocolate over low heat in a small saucepan being extra-careful not to burn or scorch it.  (I actually remove my pan from the heat and continually stir as to make sure it doesn’t get too warm.)

Using a fork, roll the apricot balls in the melted chocolate until they are all covered. Place them back on the waxed paper, and then chill in the refrigerator until set, about 15 minutes.