Dark Chocolate Orange and Pomegranate Truffles

This recipe happened by accident, but sometimes disasters turn into “disasterpieces” as my good friend Sara likes to say. Let me explain.

I’ve been wanting to make a holiday bark all of December. I’ve been seeing so many bark versions pop up over the web and wanted to make my own spin on it. I am in love with orange and dark chocolate and one thing I knew for sure: my bark creation had to include some sort of orange. I also just purchased a pomegranate and I thought that combining chocolate, orange and some pomegranate arils would not only be pretty to look at, but pretty good, too. Well, one thing is true: Dark chocolate, orange and pomegranate arils combined are out of this world!

 So I was all ready to make my bark. I melted the chocolate and then combined all my ingredients together. But something weird happened that I wasn’t expecting. My chocolate started hardening up right away. I tried to melt it again, but it wasn’t happening. Bummer, there goes the bark idea. Frustrated, I snuck a lick of the chocolate mixture and woah! I knew I had to come up with plan B fast because this was just too good to waste.

I popped the mixture into the fridge for a few minutes. Then I pulled it back out and rolled it into a lot of little balls. Then I rolled the balls into really fun, cute toppings. And ta-dah: holiday bark disaster turned into darling truffles. These little bits of deliciousness are not only so cute, but they are seriously amazing. The pomegranate arils are a bit of a surprise and their slightly sweet, juicy goodness really make these truffles shine. I can’t wait to take these to my next Christmas party!

Dark Chocolate Orange and Pomegranate Truffles

Makes about 20 truffles

Ingredients:

 1 ½ cups dark chocolate chips (I use THIS)

1 tablespoon coconut oil

2 teaspoons orange zest (zest from one orange)

1/3 cup pomegranate arils

1/3 cup pecans or nuts of choice, broken into small pieces

 Optional Toppings: shredded coconut, crushed nuts, cut up dried unsweetened cranberries, additional orange zest, cocoa powder, etc.

 DIRECTIONS:

 In a double boiler (*if you don’t have one, see note below) over low heat, melt the chocolate and coconut oil until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the zest, pomegranate arils and nuts. Place in the refrigerator for a few minutes. It’s very important to not let the mixture harden. You want it to be pliable enough to make into balls. Make into balls and roll into desired toppings. You may need to pop the chocolate in the fridge a few times during this process. If the chocolate mixture gets too soft, it gets really messy, but again, you don’t want to let the mixture completely harden until you are all done rolling into the balls and toppings. After you rolled all your balls, place in the refrigerator to completely harden. Enjoy!

I store these in the refrigerator, but you don’t have to. They will not melt after they are hard.