Sweet mint chocolate cookie truffles coated in mint chocolate. Deliciously good for you!
I seem to be on something of a chocolate kick lately. Well, in reality, I am always on a chocolate kick, because I love the stuff. Worship the stuff. This little brain of mine is always a-whirr with ideas for low carb chocolate recipes. What I really mean is that I seem to be on a bit of a chocolate streak here on All Day I Dream About Food. Usually I try to space it out a bit, have one chocolate-heavy recipe per week and then post some other baked goods and maybe, just maybe, a main course or a side dish. But I looked the other day at the recipes I had developed and had ready to go and realized…they were all about chocolate. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Unless you don’t like chocolate. Or worse, are allergic to chocolate. Oh dear, that would be my version of hell, actually. Surrounded by chocolate and unable to eat it lest my throat swell up. Torture, pure torture. I’d probably risk my life and eat it anyway.
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Anyhoo, I digress. Normally I try to strike a balance here and bring you recipes of all sorts. And I have some fantastic ideas for savoury recipes, I just haven’t had time to execute them. Some I’ve actually made, and they were so good, my family gobbled them up before I could photograph them. So now you are stuck with chocolate because I don’t have anything else ready to post. What a hardship, eh?
So, these truffle thingies. They’ve been on my mind for a while now. About a zillion years ago, I made low carb thin mints. I thought I was pretty freakin’ brilliant at the time. And it seems some other people agreed, because that was my first ever post to go viral. Mind you, back then, my idea of going viral was a couple of thousand views on one post. And my “going viral” was aided by my dear Katrina, of In Katrina’s Kitchen, who posted them on a then-practically-unknown site called Pinterest. Pinterest? What the heck is Pinterest? With her recommendation, I hopped on the Pinterest bandwagon early. That may be the only time in my life I’ve ever jumped on a bandwagon early. Or even on time. I am usually so far behind the bandwagon, I can no longer hear the band playing.
I digress again. Where was I? The thin mints. The truffles. The two ideas come together. I probably first saw the idea on Pinterest, because I see a lot of great ideas on Pinterest. And then I can no longer remember where I saw them. It hardly matters, it’s my idea now. And it was so easy to create my own low carb thin mint truffles. I simply made the dough for the cookies, rolled it out and baked it. I didn’t bother to cut it out, I just baked it as one ginormous chocolate cracker. And then I ground it up again in my food processor, mixed it with some cream cheese to hold it together, shaped it into balls, froze them and then dipped them in chocolate.
Voila, low carb thin mint truffles. Now go pin them, maybe they will go viral!
- 1 3/4 cups almond flour
- 1/3 cup cocao powder
- 1/3 cup granulated erythritol
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 large egg slightly beaten
- 2 tbsp butter melted
- 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 1 oz food-grade cocoa butter
- 1 oz unsweetened chocolate chopped
- 3 tbsp powdered Swerve Sweetener or other powdered erythritol sifted
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 tsp mint extract extract
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For the cookies, preheat the oven to 300F.
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In a large bowl, combine almond flour, cocao powder, erythritol, baking powder and salt. Add in egg, butter, and mint extract and stir well until dough comes together.
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Roll out dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll to about 1/8 inch thick. Lift off top piece of parchment and place on a large baking sheet.
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Bake until firm, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove and let cool completely.
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Break the big cookie into chunks and place into the bowl of a food processor. Process until it resembles coarse crumbs.
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Transfer to a medium bowl and add cream cheese. Mix until thoroughly combined.
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Form mixture into 1 inch balls and place on a parchment or waxed paper lined baking sheet. Freeze for at least 1 hour.
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For the coating, melt cocoa butter and chocolate together in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth.
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Stir in sifted powdered erythritol, then stir in cocoa powder, until smooth.
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Remove from heat and stir in mint extract.
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Drop truffles, one at time, into melted coating and remove with a fork, tapping against the side of the pan to remove excess chocolate.
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Place on another parchment or waxed paper lined baking sheet and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
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If you have excess coating, you can let it cool until it's thicker but not fully solidified. Then pipe over truffles in a decorative fashion.
Serves 15 (2 truffles each). Each serving has 5.6 g of carbs and 2.8 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 2.8 g.
Stacy | Wicked Good Kitchen says
Cheers! And, here’s to hoping these gluten free, low carb and sugar free Thin Mint Truffles go viral at Pinterest! I shall do the honor of getting things rolling. 🙂 xo
Carolyn says
LOL, thanks Stacy!
Regan @ Cabot Creamery says
Seriously… a truffle for less than 3 carbs. I’m sold 🙂
Renee says
Okay, I have a stupid question. What is cocoa butter? I have all of these ingredients on hand, except for the cocoa butter and the mint flavoring. Can I use something else instead of the cocoa butter and just make these chocolate truffles, since I don’t have mint?
Carolyn says
You can make them with butter. Cocoa butter is the fat from cocoa pods…chocolate is made with a combo of cocoa butter and cocoa solids. If you use butter or coconut oil, use less. Maybe 1 to 1.5 tbsp.
Toni| BoulderLocavor says
Yum! Love chocolate mint anything and these seem like a perfect bite for summer!
Renata says
I just found this site and I am sooooo impressed! This is officially my go to page from now on!!! Thanks
Liz says
My kids would not even notice these were low carb…they’d be too busy inhaling 🙂 Hope you’re having an excellent weekend, Carolyn!
Melanie says
These look DELISH! I’m guessing they’d need to be kept in the fridge, right? (Also, you have it spelled as “cocao” in a couple of places–the truffle ingredient list and in the instructions #2.) Love love love this site!!!
Carolyn says
Thanks for the tip on the typo, I was scrambling to get that one up before I left town for the weekend! And yes, these do need refrigeration.
Michele says
I hate you for the delicious things you post. Actually, I’ve been kinda bummed ever since they discontinued the Atkins mint “Endulge” cookie bars which were more or less doppelgangers for Thin Mints, so thank you. You’re making my dessert dreams come true. One of these years I will have a delicious bread recipe I’ve adapted to low-carb that I’ll post, with photos, on my web log and share the link.
Michele says
And I came here looking for a sugar-free granita recipe, and here I’ve found something much better. 🙂
Lady Jennie says
Pinned! I’m always looking for an excuse to use my peppermint extract.
Michele says
I’m in love with peppermint, too. I make desserts, drinks and Middle-Eastern savory dishes with it. I even rub it on my temples to relieve stress (it works great for that).
JennM says
These look fantastic! I just happen to have all the ingredients in my pantry, and I can’t wait to give these a try.
I’m sure you have enough of your own recipe ideas to last a lifetime, but if you’re ever looking for a suggestion I’d LOVE to see you take a crack a a low-carb version of baklava. It’s one of my most favorite desserts of all time, and I just can’t for the life of me figure out a good way to convert it. If anyone can, it’s you!
Carolyn says
Oh boy, you might asking miracles for a low carb puff pastry! 🙂
JennM3 says
Haha! It doesn’t need to “puff” though…baklava is usually made with phyllo, so it’s more like itty-bitty tiny thin pastry. 😉 Still a long shot, I know…but a girl can dream!
Carolyn says
phyllo…that’s what I meant! I just don’t see how you could get those thin layers with anything low carb.
JennM says
You may be right. 🙁 I’m not giving up hope that a solution could be found one day, though! 😉
Carolyn says
Never give up hope! 🙂 I will hope along with you and if I ever feel I have an idea of how to approach it, I will go for it.
Jeanette says
Love the idea of a thin mint in truffle form – someone you’ve managed to make these somewhat healthy Carolyn with almond flour and antioxidant rich cocoa powder – you’re amazing!
Holly says
I just tried making these and had trouble with the coating. I melted cocoa butter and when I added the powdered swerve everything just clumped up – oil separated from solids and I have a gloopy mess. Any suggestions?
Carolyn says
Did you add the Swerve directly to the cocoa butter, with no chocolate in it yet? I can’t tell from what you wrote. If so, that’s an issue. But if not, then your chocolate seized, which happens more easily with lower quality chocolate. I use Ghirardelli, Lindt or Scharffen Berger. A few things to fix: Don’t do it directly in the saucepan, but instead in a bowl above gently simmering water (more gentle heat can help). Also adding an emulsifier like a touch of xanthan gum can bring the oil and solids back together. Just a little at a time, like 1/8 tsp. If it’s too thick, thin it out with some oil, a few teaspoons at a time.
Holly says
Thanks. I tried it again over lower heat then poured cocoa butter into glass bowl before adding the sweetener and vanila. It worked!
Carolyn says
Oh good! Glad to hear it.
Melissa@ Melissa's Southern Style Kitchen says
Carolyn, these look fantastic! Pinned for my low carb/low sugar friends, thanks so much!
Kathy says
I made these as little party favours, 3 each to a guest, nestled in a Christmas ornament box at each place setting. They looked so pretty in their little foil cups. Two changes I made…I used more peppermint extract to up the mint flavour (mine was quite old, so perhaps had lost some energy), and my coating, while delicious, was too thick to spread thin enough to cover all the truffles. I had enough to cover the number I needed, but next time I will either make a larger batch of coating, or thin it with something…what would you suggest Carolyn?
Carolyn says
The coating can be too thick depending on what chocolate and cocoa powder you use. Next time, add a tbsp or so of coconut oil to thin it. Sorry about that!
Kathy says
They are delicious with or without the coating, but thanks for the solution for making it thinner.
Stacy says
I made these today and mixed the “cookie” with your peppermint icing instead of the cream cheese because I did not have any on hand. I cut the peppermint just a tad so that it would not be too strong. The end result …. delicious. My boys loved it, which is a good thing since it is their Valentine’s Day treat. Thank you.
Carolyn says
Great idea!
crystal says
My son had a fatal allergy to tree nuts, so almind flour us out, as well as coconut. Do you kniw if flax flour (or another substitute) eould work? Thx
Carolyn says
Can he have something like sunflower seed flour?
Jenna says
Is there any way to get away with using regular sugar in these? My family and I hate using sugar substitutes
Carolyn says
Sure just replace my sweeteners with sugar.
Linda says
Can these be frozen and if so how long will they keep in the freezer?
Carolyn says
They can be frozen if wrapped up tightly. I wouldn’t keep them in there for more than a month.
Jennifer says
I am looking forward to making these for a family Christmas party on Saturday. I’m interested in using regular sugar instead of sweeteners. For the truffle filling would I use a regular sugar and then use a powdered sugar for the chocolate coating?
Carolyn says
Yes, just swap in sugar and confectioner’s sugar in place of mine.
Marilyn says
I have never used food grade cocao butter, do you recommend a specific brand or two?
Carolyn says
This one is good. http://amzn.to/2gUjbrS
Shirley H says
I tried to make these and the “dough” would not come together so I am left with some very expensive crumbs. Also they aren’t sweet and there is not enough mint flavor. I bought peppermint extract you called for even though I had mint extract which you called for in the coating. I have refrigerated the inside mixture in hopes of saving the very expensive almond four mixture. How should I proceed?
Carolyn says
Melt about another 1/4 cup butter and mix it in. What brand of almond flour did you use?
Heidi says
Mine also did not hold together AT ALL.
Carolyn says
Add more liquid until it does.