These truffles are rich and tasty, with a smooth texture and minty flavor. They are also low in oxalates. My original goal in creating this treat was to create a white chocolate version of my Chocolate Coconut Fudge Bites. Then I wondered if I could make them low oxalate as well. My curiosity was piqued recently when I read a blog post at Roo’s Clues which talked about how oxalates “…injure and kill the mitochondria” and it made me wonder if I should look more closely at avoiding oxalates. My friend Patty from Loving Our Guts has written a very informative post called What Are Oxalates? [Courtesy of Internet Archive] which will explain more in case you are also interested.

Since my friend Patty is practically an expert on oxalates, I asked her about twenty questions on Facebook one night to see if I could figure out how to make this recipe low oxalate. With her help, I was successful. Not only are these truffles low oxalate (Patty says they contain just over 1 mg oxalates per truffle) but they are minty and rich tasting.

Patty also introduced me to Be Young essential oils, as this is another way she has found to keep the oxalates low in the diet. I recently ordered Peppermint and Spearmint. This recipe includes four drops of the Peppermint oil and Patty says, “If you purchase them [essential oils] from a pure source like Be Young nearly all of them can be ingested and used topically. Some care should be used by pregnant women and on young children with some of the oils. Peppermint is one that can raise the blood pressure and cause contractions in pregnant women so a trial with just sniffing it is advised for pregnant women and those with high blood pressure and if it is too strong spearmint can be used in its place.“

And now for the recipe!

White Chocolate Peppermint Truffles

• 1/2 cup coconut cream [affiliate link] concentrate (aka coconut butter)
• 1/4 cup cocoa butter
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1-1/2 cups shredded coconut + 1/4 cup for decoration
• 1 T. coconut flour [affiliate link]
• 1 t. vanilla [affiliate link]
• 1 pinch sea salt [affiliate link]
• 3 T. honey [affiliate link]
• 4 drops Be Young Peppermint Essential Oil
• 2 teaspoons water

1. Warm coconut cream concentrate until it is the consistency of smooth peanut butter [affiliate link].
2. Melt cocoa butter.
3. Add coconut cream concentrate and cocoa butter to your food processor.
4. Add sunflower seeds, shredded coconut, coconut flour, vanilla, salt, honey and 4 drops of peppermint oil. Be very careful that you only get four drops. I found it was best to drop the oil onto a spoon first so that I could be sure to count the drops. They dripped out of my bottle very fast.
5. Blend until smooth. While the processor is blending, add the two teaspoons of water. This should cause the mixture to slightly ball up as it blends around.
6. Using a teaspoon measurement, scoop 2 even teaspoons for each truffle. Mash together and roll between your hands to form a round ball. If you roll them too roughly they will fall apart so it’s best to mash them into shape firmly initially, and then gently roll into a ball. Yields 32 truffles.
7. Roll in the remaining 1/4 cup of shredded coconut to decorate.

Alternately you may press evenly into an 8? x 8? square pan, lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle shredded coconut on top to decorate. Place in freezer for 15 minutes to harden. Cut into small squares. These are less time consuming and they taste just as delicious!

By the way, the squares are awesome straight from the freezer!  At the time of writing the post I had only frozen the balls and they were hard to bite into. The squares are hard but since they are thin they quickly warm in your mouth and are easy to chew. You get a burst of sweet mint with each bite. 🙂