These dairy free sesame truffles taste a little like chocolate halva, only not as sweet. They’re quite easy to make and are particularly good served with after dinner coffee. Swap the honey for agave, maple or date syrup and you have vegan sesame truffles.
A couple of our friends invited us to a meal just before Christmas, but because of the extreme ice and snow they had to cancel. Luckily for us, they reorganised the occasion for early February. Luckily, the weather was mild, if a little damp and we finally had our meet up with friends.
As some of our other friends attending the meal are virtually vegans, I thought I’d try something a little different. Out came Paul A Young’s Adventures with Chocolate and I set to.
Dairy-Free Chocolate Truffles
The truffles are really quite easy to make. Unlike many truffles, there’s no need to roll them by hand, which always creates a horrendous mess in my experience. Just make a ganache, leave it to set, then use a spoon to roll spoonfuls of it in toasted sesame seeds.
I’ve included honey in these truffles, so they’re not actually vegan. But if this is an issue, just swap the honey for agave, maple or date syrup.
Apologies for the quality of the photos. I had no natural light, which makes the truffles look less attractive than they actually were. Luckily, I carried out my intention to shape them into quenelles quite successfully. These dairy-free sesame truffles are very rich and the tasty crunch of sesame seeds makes a good contrast to the unctuous interior.
An additional benefit of the sesame seeds is that they encourage chewing, which keeps the whole thing in the mouth for longer. The tahini is present as a flavour but by no means overwhelming. A bit like a chocolate version of halva but not as sweet and cloying and with a smoother texture.
CT expressed his surprise: “I can’t believe these are vegan”. I’m very excited by them; I now have a highly acceptable vegan truffle. I’m going into business – oops no, Paul got there first!
As it happens our friends had made an extremely rich and delicious chocolate truffle torte for dessert. So my truffles were somewhat surplus to requirements. Oh well, can’t get it right all of the time!
Other Chocolate Truffle Recipes You Might Like
- Cake truffles
- Gingerbread chocolate truffles (vegan)
- Goat’s cheese chocolate truffles
- Lemon balm milk chocolate truffles
- Rosemary chocolate truffles
- Whisky truffles
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these dairy free sesame truffles, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. And do please rate the recipe. Have you any top tips? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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Choclette x
Dairy Free Sesame Truffles. PIN IT.
Dairy Free Sesame Truffles – The Recipe
Dairy Free Sesame Truffles
Ingredients
- 80 ml water
- 1 tbsp honey (for a vegan version, use the equivalent amount of agave or date syrup)
- 2 tbsp light tahini
- 125 g dark chocolate (I used Ecuadorian Arriba 81%)
- 50 g sesame seeds
Instructions
- In a medium sized pan, heat the water with the honey and bring to a simmer..80 ml water, 1 tbsp honey
- Stir in the tahini until it’s smooth and simmer for a couple of minutes.2 tbsp light tahini
- Chop the chocolate fairly finely and place in a heat proof bowl. Pour the liquid over the chocolate and leave for a few minutes to melt.125 g dark chocolate
- Stir carefully with a metal whisk to avoid splitting.
- Leave to cool then place in the fridge for an hour.
- Toast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan for a couple of minutes until golden, then leave to cool.50 g sesame seeds
- Dip a tsp in a mug of hot water then scoop out spoonfuls of ganache in a rough quenelle shape. Roll them in the sesame seeds. Dip the spoon back into the hot water each time to avoid the ganache sticking to the spoon.
Choclette says
KitchenMaid – thank you kindly 🙂
The KitchenMaid says
These sound absolutely exquisite – all my favourite things in one (of many) little bundles. I’m with everyone who said they would add this to their list of lovely things to make from your blog!
Choclette says
Sushma – they are very easy to make.
Dom – they were certainly different, but good nonethe less.
Peasoupeats – I think date syrup would work well in this recipe. I agree, better than agave.
Kath – thanks. I have no excuse, I did know about the honey, just wasn’t thinking when I wrote the post. Oh well, this post gets the record for the most name changes!
Sarah – tahini is a great substance but I’m a bit conservative in my use of it – good to branch out occasionally.
Gillian – as long as you don’t use honey you’ll have a wonderful truffle to sell to your vegan customers 🙂
Celia -Thank you. These are interesting but nothing like sesame bars, much more like truffles. But I do like sesame bars too 🙂
Oxslip – thank you for that, it’s so easy to put a smile on my face. Hope you like the tea bread.
Johanna – normally I’d agree with you, but we were all rather full by the time we’d finished the torte – sometimes it’s best to know when to stop. Everyone got a goody bag to take away with them though.
RhyleysGranny – a world without butter, cream and cheese does sound very unappealing 🙁
Chele – thank you making me feel better about my dreadful photos. That plate was just the wrong thing to put the truffles on – conflicting patterns and all that. I have a small one and a much larger serving platter with the same design.
Sheelagh – Thank you and you’re very welcome. Would be interested to know what you use your plate for?
avillagepantry says
Another brilliant recipe to try, I love tahini, so can’t wait to give this a go, (along with nearly every other recipe in your collection). Btw I have a dish very similar to your one too!
Thanks for your support & lovely comments on my blog Choc
Sheelagh 🙂
Chele says
I know I am focusing on totally the wrong thing here but I LOVE that plate! So pretty … and the truffles make it even prettier lol
Rhyleysgranny says
What is it about that word Vegan that makes me shudder. I have to say your truffles changed my mind. They look great.
Johanna GGG says
surely you can never have enough chocolate desserts – these sound like just the sort of thing I’d love to have arrive with a guest – have bookmarked them to try
oxslip says
Tahini is such a great flavour, these look great. You are such a top blogger I’m really behind on your posts, but the teabread is on the list of things to make too now – can’t go wrong with cardamom and chocolate. Thanks for the recipe!
celia says
They look and sound delicious, Choc, a bit reminiscent of sesame bars, only with chocolate instead of caramel! Your vegan friends are lucky to have you! 🙂
Chocolate Here says
Ah I had wondered about this recipe. Now I can stop wondering and just try it!
Sarah, Maison Cupcake says
These sound fantastic! I love tahini.
Kath says
You see I had no idea that vegans didn’t eat honey – how stupid am I? Surplus to requirements – I don’t believe it. They would have been snaffled after the torte if you had bought them here. They look and sound delicious.
peasoupeats says
Fantastic recipe, I shall definitely be making these! I’ll probably use date syrup as sometimes agave isn’t sweet enough for me in desserts:)
Dom at Belleau Kitchen says
god these look so good… I love the darkness of them I bet they had a real exotic quality… divine!
Sushma Mallya says
Looks Amazing, would love to try them:)
Choclette says
Helen – hope you like them
C – can’t believe I made such a stupid mistake. Thanks for pointing this out to me, better go and make a note quick.
Corina – it’s certainly not something I would have thought up myself.
BVG – why is it there’s always an annoying amount left in the jar? So yes a good use for that.
Raffaiella – please do.
Рафаэлла says
Can I have some truffles? 😉
Brownieville Girl says
They sound like the best possible left-overs to me!!!!
Thanks for this – I love the idea of the tahini in there (mine is only ever used for hummus!)
Corina says
What an interesting way to use tahini. I never know what to do with it apart from houmous. They look great.
C says
They look great – I love the idea of truffles made without cream – it must really let the flavours of the chocolate shine through.
I’m certain honey isn’t vegan though 🙁
Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says
I have been waiting for this recipe ever since you tweeted about them!
Duly bookmarked!