This Saturday, I'm teaching a private cooking class for a small group of women.  We're going to spend a few hours preparing a soup, three entrees and two side dishes.  It's a "hands-on" class, so it should be a blast.  It's always a little chaotic, but that's what makes it fun.  

I was thinking about bringing a little something extra to share with the group that they weren't expecting that will also turn them on to some alternative ingredients they may be unfamiliar with.  And since we weren't going to be making any desserts, I thought that something sweet would be appreciated.

I was going through my recipes and came across one that I had cut out from Vegetarian Times magazine from February 2009.  Never having made this recipe before, I decided to give it a try.  It seemed easy, only used three ingredients, and it contained CHOCOLATE.  So, I figured it would be perfect.

It was easy to make, although a little messy as the chilled chocolate began to soften.  I wound up putting it back in the refrigerator for a bit to get it to harden up before continuing.

Here are some photos I took throughout the process.

Ingredients:  1/2 cup Chocolate Soy Milk, 1 12-oz. pkg. vegan, grain-sweetened chocolate chips, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa.

Warm soymilk until hot to the touch.  Set aside.

Melt chocolate chips in large metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water, stirring until smooth. (I used a smaller saucepan containing the chips, over a larger saucepan of the simmering water)  Stir in warmed soymilk until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate 4 hours, or overnight.

Shape chilled chocolate mixture into 1-inch balls. 

Place cocoa powder on plate.  Roll the balls in the cocoa.

Finished Chocolate Truffles

Just to experiment, I rolled one in a mixture of the cocoa along with some cinnamon. Pretty tasty.  You could make an assortment of these; some with the cocoa, some with cocoa and cinnamon, others with chopped nuts, etc.  

Recipe by Elliot Prag - Vegetarian Times/Feb. 2009