Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

There is a recipe that I’ve been wanting to try for quite a while, but I never got around to it before we decided to give up eating wheat. So I decided to make my own wheat-free, gluten-free and grain-free version. Unfortunately, it is not sugar-free. I think the only way to make Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles sugar-free would be to use Splenda or stevia, but my digestive system can’t tolerate either of those.

My opinion on artificial sweeteners is to stay away from them. I recently was fortunate enough to have a teleconference training with Dr. Mark Hyman for my job. He is the author of The Blood Sugar Solution. He believes that artificial sweeteners aren’t good for you. When you eat something sweet, whether it has calories or not, your body prepares for the sweet by increasing insulin levels in response to the sweet flavor. Having your insulin levels go up all the time leads to insulin resistance, which leads to diabesity. To learn more about this you can read this article.

So not only can I not tolerate artificial sweeteners, but they just aren’t good for me. Even “natural” sweeteners like stevia and sugar alcohols. With IBS, I have a worse reaction with anything ending in -ol (xylitol, maltitol) than I do with fructose itself. I can tolerate just regular old cane sugar pretty well compared to artificial sweeteners.

So after all this talk about how sugar and sweeteners aren’t good for, I’m sharing a sweet recipe! I just like to torture you all….But seriously, like Dr. Hyman says in this article, “Stop confusing your body. If you have a desire for something sweet, have a little sugar, but stay away from ‘fake’ foods.” I do love my sweets, so I let myself have them, but I also limit them too. When I make something sweet, such as these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles, I let myself have one, but that’s the only sweet I eat for that day. Of course, there are some days when I do go overboard, but I’ve found that the more I limit my sugar intake, the easier it is to resist. Try to see if you can resist these!

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Not Low-FODMAP*
makes 20 truffles

Ingredients

1/3 cup pack brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1 – 2 teaspoons water
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 tablespoons palm shortening**

Directions

1. Cream together the sugars and butter. Add vanilla and salt. Mix in almond flour until well-blended. Add water, if needed, to get dough to stick together. Stir in the 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips.
2. Measure out dough by the tablespoonful and roll into balls. Place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Freeze overnight or at least a couple of hours.
3. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips and the shortening on 50% power in 30-second intervals, stirring in between. Microwave until smooth, about 1 1/2 minutes total.
4. Dip cookie dough balls in the melted chocolate and place on wax paper. Chill in refrigerator to set. Store in the refrigerator.

* These truffles are made with almond flour/meal, which is high in oligosaccharides, and therefore may not be appropriate for the elimination phase of the low-FODMAP diet.

** I have used coconut oil instead of shortening and it works fine as a substitute.

Nutrition Data for one truffle (calculated by MyFitnessPal.com): Calories 152, Carbs 15g, Fat 9g, Protein 3g, Fiber 1g, Sugar 12g.