These chocolate hazelnut balls are a delight to make and enjoy. They also make the perfect gift. You can pop them into petit-four cases and into a box. They will last around 5 days and can be frozen.

Ingredients – Makes 22

160g hazelnuts, with or without skins
80g ground almonds
200g Medjool dates
50g cacao powder
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
1 pinch salt
200g dark chocolate (at least 70%
cocoa solids)

Method

1. Turn the oven to 180C fan
2. Pop the hazelnuts onto a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 8-10 minutes so that they are aromatic, but take care not to burn. Alternatively cook in an air fryer at 180C for around 5 minutes.
3. Allow to cool. If they have skins on, rub them together in a clean tea towel to remove the the skins.
4. Take 50g of the hazelnuts and crush them in baking parchment with a rolling pin. These will be used for coating at the end. Keep in a small bowl until needed.
5. Take out 22 whole hazelnuts and store in a separate bowl. These will be used in the centre of each chocolate.
6. Lastly take the remaining hazelnuts, around 80g and add to a food processor. Process on a high power until the nuts resemble a fine flour. They may even start to form a paste/ butter at the sides.
7. Add the ground almonds, medjool dates, cacao, coconut oil, vanilla paste and sea salt. Process until the mixture is well combined and holds together when you press it between your fingers.
8. The mixture should be easy to roll into small balls. If it is too crumbly add an extra date or a little coconut oil to bring the ‘dough’ together. If it’s too soft, add a little more ground almonds. The mixture should stick together easily.
9. Divide the dough into 15g portions. You don’t want to make them too large as they are quite rich. Roll into a ball in the palms of your hand and pop a roasted hazelnut into the centre of each ball. Make them as round and uniform as you can.
10. Pop the balls into a clean dish, lined with parchment paper and place them into the freezer to firm up for around 4 hours or overnight. This makes them much easier to coat in chocolate as the chocolate will set instantly, rather than dripping off the sides!
11. Break up the chocolate and melt in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Use a cocktail stick to dip each ball into the dark chocolate and then transfer to the bowl with the crushed hazelnuts to coat while the chocolate is still soft.
12. Pop back onto the baking parchment until fully set, do not put directly onto a plate or board or the chocolate may stick. Pop into a glass jar or into individual sweet cases to serve.

Store in the fridge for up to a week and take out when required.
Can be frozen.

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