Mashed Potato Chocolate Truffles have a special edge over the traditional recipe, the lower fat content, and they still taste great!
by Charlene Cassar
Chocolate truffles are one of the greatest things in the world. Truffles are chocolate treats filled with a delicious filling, shaped in a spheric form. They’re delicious, soft and they’re the right size for a small treat. We have to thank the French for these angelic desserts. The legend has it that Auguste Escoffier was responsible for its creation. In the 1920s, Escoffier discovered this by pure accident.
Trying to make a pastry cream, instead of using a sugared egg, he used hot cream and poured this in a bowl of chocolate. When the chocolate cooled down, he was pleasantly surprised that he could use this mixture as a sort of dough and decided to roll it into a ball. Covered with cocoa powder, the chocolate truffle was born.
After trying these treats, Escoffier loved how much they reminded him of the special truffles from the French Perigord region. Nowadays, these chocolate truffles can be found with many different fillings and coated in assorted coating choices. The coating can be anything from peppercorns to cocoa to spices such as paprika.
We love ordering truffles when we are out but there’s something about homemade truffles. You might be wondering how to make perfect chocolate truffles and we are here to tell you how. The traditional recipe has chocolate (oh, yes), heavy cream, butter and vanilla extract. We’ve decided to try out a recipe which tastes even more fudgy and made from…wait for it… mashed potatoes! If you have left over mashed potatoes, you’ve got to try this. Voila! Mashed Potato Chocolate Truffles.
We had a box with three packets of Knorr Mashed Potato sachets (which are gluten free) and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try out a Mashed Potato Chocolate Truffles recipe. This recipe should work with any bowl of mashed potatoes, but for this Knorr Mashed Potato, all we needed was to whisk in 250ml boiling milk and 100ml cold water. In less than five minutes, we got a bowl of mashed potatoes. The simplest Mashed Potato Chocolate Truffles recipe ever!
The special edge that these Mashed Potato Chocolate Truffles have over the traditional recipe with heavy cream is the lower fat content (depending how you make your mashed potatoes) and if possible, this recipe is even easier to make. Apart from that, we absolutely loved and preferred the texture. At the end of the day, the caloric difference is in the coating. Mashed Potato Chocolate Truffles have around 70kcal each truffle, and around 8.2g of carbohydrates. If you want to go for a healthier option, we suggest crushed nuts such as hazelnuts or pistachio.
This recipe is gluten free and vegetarian, and can also be adapted to also be lactose-free, dairy-free and vegan by making some small changes. Simply change the dairy milk to almond milk and also ensure that the chocolate chips do not contain dairy and are vegan. And just like that, the recipe is now vegan.
Recipe:
Mashed potatoes (you can also choose your own recipe for mashed potatoes if you wish):
1 Knorr mashed potato sachet
250ml milk
100ml cold water
Truffle recipe:
150g chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract
Coating:
A portion of chopped nuts, shredded coconut, chocolate sprinkles, cocoa powder or icing sugar
Method:
Mashed potatoes
- Boil 250ml of milk.
- Turn off the heat and add 100ml cold water
- Add the potato mash sachet
Truffles
- Melt 150g of chocolate chips
- Add the mashed potatoes and whisk
- Leave to cool in the fridge for 30 minutes
- Remove from the fridge and roll the mixture into small balls
- Roll the truffles in a coating of your choice
These Mashed Potato Chocolate Truffles keep well for a week if stored in an airtight container in the fridge. We coated our chocolate truffles in cocoa powder, powdered sugar, chocolate sprinkles and crushed nuts. These Mashed Potato Chocolate Truffles have a delicious fudge texture and a delicious chocolatey taste. The crushed nuts give a very nice extra crunch to complement the soft interior.
