Festive RecipesDark Chocolate Marzipan Balls

Perfect for an after dinner treat, a quick sneaky snack or a gorgeous homemade Christmas present for a marzipan loving friend.

These balls are so far from the traditional marzipan in recipe design, yet taste the same as the sugar loaded treat that we all either love or hate.

The ingredients of my marzipan are really easy and simple, almond flour, sweetener, melted cacao butter, water and almond extract all mixed together.

Let’s talk about cacao butter.  I know many of you are wondering why I have used it and why I could not have just kept the recipe really simple with basic supermarket ingredients.  Well to start with, it is a great binder and adds a gorgeous chocolate texture to the balls, I call it “teeth markers”,  when you bite in and leave your teeth indentation.  The other reason is that it is so good for you…great for healthy skin, immune function, boosting metabolism and loaded with healthy saturated fats which are great if you are looking for a fat bomb hit during a keto diet.

Ingredients (for 12)

2 cups ground almonds or almond flour
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup cacao butter drops – melted
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp xylitol OR stevia sweetener
1 bar organic 80% dark chocolate – melted
1 tsp coconut oil

Method

In a blender combine the almond flour, cacao butter, water, sweetener and extract and mix to paste consistency.
Roll into balls and place in the fridge to firm for an hour (or use the freezer if in a hurry).
Melt the chocolate and coconut oil either in a bain marie or in the microwave and once melted transfer the chocolate to a narrow ramekin.
Remove the balls from the fridge and using a toothpick to pierce the ball, dunk the entire ball into the chocolate then hover it over to allow it to run off.
Place the ball on sheet of grease proof paper and continue to the others (you can also place an orange on top of a ramekin, then pop the toothpick with the chocolate ball into the orange to allow the balls to set with pooling chocolate)
Allow to cool and set