White "Chocolate" Macadamia Healthy Truffles

This is a very rich dessert, but one that is suitable for diabetics because it is sweetened with agave nectar, not sugar. It's also not a super-sweet dessert, so it's good for those who want something less obnoxious than Death by Chocolate cake. When I came up with it, I thought it was a good adult dessert, but my 2-year-old can't get enough of them either. She must be very sophisticated.

Some of the ingredients in this recipe are hard to come by, I admit. Particularly difficult is the cocoa butter. No, not the stuff you put on your skin, although made from the same plant. You need the edible version. I was able to find food-grade, USDA organic, raw cocoa butter online in a couple of places. This is where I got mine: http://www.rawguru.com/store/raw-food/truly-raw-organic-cocoa-butter-1-lb.html. Cocoa butter is the solid part of chocolate. It is what both white chocolate and regular chocolate are made of. It has a consistency that can't be matched by any other substance, so I think it's absolutely essential to the recipe.

The other difficult to find ingredient is macadamia butter. You could simply buy macadamia nuts and ask your local healthfood store to grind them for you in their nut butter grinder (unless you actually have one of these at home!). You might find it already made in gourmet stores. Otherwise, you can buy it where I buy all of my nut products, at http://www.livingtreecommunity.com/. You'll find all things nuts there (except peanuts), just about all raw and organic.

Some other items you may not find at the supermarket are cashew butter, coconut butter, agave nectar, flax seed, and chocolate extract. These should all be readily available at your health food store.

One final note about this recipe: it's not cheap! If you need to go out and buy all of these ingredients, and you will only be making this recipe once, you will be spending a fortune. Since all of these ingredients are shelf-stable, and since I know I will make these many times, the expense is not wasted in my family. If it will be for yours, you might want to consider making that Death by Chocolate cake instead.

White "Chocolate" Macadamia Healthy Truffles
3/4 c. cocoa butter
1/4 c. coconut butter
1/4 c. cashew butter
1/2 c. macadamia butter
1/4 c. agave nectar
1 Tbsp flax seed, ground in a coffee grinder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp chocolate extract
1/2 c. macadamia nuts, finely chopped

In a double boiler, melt the cocoa butter over very low heat (keeping the heat low will keep the recipe technically raw, even though minimal heat is applied). Combine melted cocoa butter, coconut butter, cashew butter, macadamia butter, agave nectar, ground flax seed, vanilla and chocolate extracts in a glass bowl. Mix until uniform.

Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour. Remove from the fridge, and form 1 inch balls from the mixture. Roll each ball in the chopped macadamia nuts. Return to the refrigerator. This dessert should stay cold until served, or it will soften too much.