Connellian Dark Chocolate, Orange, & Almond Protein Truffles (TM)

I need to start this recipe post by telling you about Connell:

I met Connell in January of this year, at Six3Nine in London where I ran a VIP Protein Pow Workshop (here are the official photos of the workshop and here are the outtakes). Connell came with Zoe Smith (olympic weightlighter and all around superhero) and, from the get-go, he struck me as a creative character. He had that playful air about him, that spirit of POW if you know what I mean.

Now, I usually start my workshops by talking to people about protein powder cooking and the fearlessness you need to actually enjoy it. I try to unleash people’s inner child and inspire them to just follow their instincts and let go of any hesitancy or trepidation. I basically take people by the hand, walk them into the core of Protein Pow cooking, and BAM! I let go.

The first thing they feel when they’re put in this position is uncertainty. “What am I going to dooooo here!?!” They stare at the ingredients and, alarmed, they immediately run over to ask me whether X is sweet enough, where Y would go with Z; how much of A should they add to B? Should they use any of C?

My answer is always the same: follow your tastebuds. TRUST yourself.

Trust yourself and know that you cannot fail here. Sure, your mix may become ‘tricky’ and you’ll need to tweak it a little (or a lot!) but you need to let go of the idea that the option is there for you to fail. You can’t. You won’t. Even after I tell them this though, the vast majority of people still feel lost and a bit unsettled. It takes them a while to actually run wild in the land of Pow.

This applies to most people but not to Connell. No. Even though he’d never made his own protein bars or truffles (TM) before, the guy was going crazy with the ingredients from the moment I opened up the floor. He just embraced the initial chaos and ran with it.

I would go to help someone with their batter, turn around, and find Connell adding jam to his batter. I’d walk away from a second, turn around, and find Connell cutting an orange into his batter – using scissors. I’d go chat with someone about their bars and hear my name called, “Anna, do you have any chilli? How about sea salt???”

I actually have a video clip somewhere of Connell making his truffles that day. I’ll look for it tonight and see if I can embed it to this post so you can see the amount of fun the guy was having. He added everything and anything to his batter and he kept tasting it the whole way through, to ensure the end product didn’t just speak to him but that it actually SCREAMED.

When he was finished, I walked over and actually tried one of his protein truffles (TM). Oy, oy, oy. They were crazy! I mean, really. They were absolutely brilliant – bitter and sweet from the dark chocolate, with a hint of orange and almonds. Seriously inspired and positively sublime.

The day after the workshop, I asked Connell for his recipe. I told him I wanted to share it with you guys. He said he didn’t remember exactly what went into his truffles but he gave me a quick rundown of the ingredients. The recipe you’ll find here is inspired by Connell’s truffles. It features less ingredients than he used but I think it captures the basis of their spirit, beginning with the orange:

Ingredients

1/2 an orange (seedless and peeled)
4 tbsps coconut flour
1/2 cup of chocolate whey protein powder (see Note 1 below for subs)
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup of ground almonds
1 cup of almond milk
2-3 pitted medjool dates (depending on how sweet you like them)
5 squares of dark chocolate

Directions

1. Blend all your ingredients together using a handheld blender or food processor.

2. Shape the batter into little balls or truffles. If your batter is too sticky, add a bit more cocoa or coconut flour until your batter has a soft and malleable consistency.

3. Melt your dark chocolate in a bain marie (a glass bowl on top of a pot of boiling water).

4. Cover your truffles in melted chocolate, add some grated orange on top, and refrigerate for an hour or two.

5. Finito!

Macros per truffle (out of 16):

86kcals
5g protein
7g carbs (out of which 4g is fiber so net carbs = 3g!)
4g fat

Note: If you want to use unflavored whey protein powder, you can. Just make sure you sweeten your batter by adding some kind of sweetener or an extra date or two.