Three-Ingredient "Pretend" Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles

Last weekend, in celebration of Rachel Harris' latest YA novel, THE FINE ART OF PRETENDING, I shared some real-life "pretend boyfriend" moments from my high school diaries. Today, I'm celebrating with an even more delectable Flirt Squad challenge.  
 
For the Love of Chocolate—Aly is a snackage fiend, bakes often, and stands by her break-up cure of Double Stuf Oreos. Share YOUR favorite recipes!

A challenge to share a delicious chocolate recipe? Yes, please!*


Of course, since we're celebrating THE FINE ART OF PRETENDING, I had to come up with a recipe that fit the theme of "pretending," right? No, I'm not going to try to pass a non-chocolate recipe off as my answer to the Love of Chocolate challenge. (There are plenty of mock chocolate recipes out there, I'm sure, but in my book, pretend chocolate is just plain wrong.) But I was watching Master Chef a couple of weeks ago, and I realized that, as much as I love cooking and baking and making delicious food, I could never win a cooking competition, because I don't do it "right." I'm the queen of shortcuts and cheater dishes, but I'm really good at "Pretending" to be a "Real Chef." (Of course I'm not implying that my cooking is any less real than a professional chef. But I will admit, if I went head-to-head with someone in one of those cooking challenges, I'd be docked all kinds of crazy points for not using the "proper" techniques.)

So today, I present to you my recipe for  

"Pretend" Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles. 

With only three ingredients (and an optional fourth ingredient), these melt-in-your-mouth candies take approximately two minutes to make, and they're both gluten-free and vegan.**

For three truffles, you will need:

1 Tbsp. baking cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter
1/2 tsp. agave syrup (you can use 1 full tsp. if you prefer sweeter truffles)
(optional: 1 tsp. powdered sugar for dusting finished truffles)

Place cocoa powder and peanut butter in very small bowl or cup. 


 

Microwave 20 seconds to melt the peanut butter. Add agave syrup. Stir to combine all ingredients, until a soft dough forms. 





  
Let cool slightly (about 30 seconds or so). Divide into 3 portions and roll into balls. 


 

Roll each ball in powdered sugar, cocoa powder, or a mix of both. Or simply enjoy as-is.

You can easily double (or triple ... or more) this recipe, if more than three truffles are desired. - These truffles aren't assembled using proper truffle techniques, and they don't even have the "right" ingredients (I think there's supposed to be some complicated process involving heavy cream?), but I wanted truffles one day, and most store-bought truffles contain the oil I'm allergic to, so I simply made my own with ingredients I had on hand. The resulting candy might not be a "real" truffle, but it's no less delicious than the real thing! Sometimes, pretending can be an awfully good thing.



*As you know, creating yummy chocolate desserts to celebrate books I love is kind of a hobby of mine. There were Dark Chocolate Maple Brownies to celebrate Anna Staniszewski's middle grade novel, THE DIRT DIARY ... Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse (as well as an Easy Vegan Chocolate Mousse) to celebrate Rachel Harris' adult contemporary romance, TASTE THE HEAT ... and a Giant Crock Pot Brownie Sundae to celebrate my own debut novel, TWELVE STEPS.

**(Note: These "Pretend" Truffles have REAL peanut butter in them, so if you have peanut allergies, these aren't for you. However, they may work just as well with almond butter, sunflower seed butter or cashew butter.)