Scottish Truffles (Coconut Chocolate Balls)

These no-bake Scottish truffles are the most delicious little chocolate balls. Made with condensed milk, coconut, and crushed cookies (or graham crackers), they're a perfect little delicious treat!

These chocolate balls were actually the very first thing I ever learned to make, and what sparked my love of baking. It's a classic Scottish recipe, but we call them 'Chocolate Truffles' in Scotland. I decided to rename them for this post though to avoid confusion with regular chocolate truffles, which are made with melted chocolate and cream. They are a delightful little treat that are really quick to make and use very simple ingredients. The sum is definitely greater than the parts with these homemade chocolate truffles, as the flavor that is made with those simple ingredients is irresistible. I challenge you to only eat one, I'm fairly certain it's impossible!

I like to include a recipe from home from time to time. It's nice to do Scottish desserts and treats, like my Millionaires Shortbread or chocolate tiffin recipe. It's amazing how smell and flavor can bring you right back to where you grew up and spark all those old memories. These easy treats are also great to whip up quickly for a party or visit when you don't have a lot of time, as they are no-bake and come together in just a few minutes. For that reason, it's also a really great recipe to make with your kids.

Ingredients

There are only five main ingredients needed to whip up this sweet treat!

• Digestive Biscuits / Graham Crackers - So in Scotland, we make these with digestive biscuits. If you are in North America, the best replacement for these is Graham crackers, which are readily available in most North American grocery stores. If you are in Europe, the best alternative I have found are the Leibniz biscuits. Any one of these options will make a super tasty chocolate ball, so don't worry!

• Shredded Coconut - The coconut flavor is not very strong in these, but it adds a wonderful texture and a bit of 'bite'. Use unsweetened or sweetened, depending on your preference. I tend to use unsweetened coconut in desserts, like my coconut custard pie.

• Condensed Milk - Make sure you buy sweetened condensed milk and not evaporated milk.

• Cocoa Powder - I like to use dutch processed cocoa powder, but natural unsweetened cocoa powder work also for these chocolate balls, but I find the Dutch-processed gives a more enjoyable chocolate flavor.

• Butter - Salted or unsalted butter is fine, whatever your personal preference is. There is no need to bring the butter down to room temperature as we will be melting it anyway.

See the recipe card for quantities.

How to Make Scottish Truffles

Crush Cookies

Start by crushing up your graham crackers / digestive biscuits to a fine crumb. You can do this by pulsing them in a food processor or by sealing them in a plastic bag and crushing with a rolling pin.

Put the cookie crumbs into a large bowl along with the shredded coconut and a pinch of salt. Mix everything together.

Melt Ingredients

Put the condensed milk, butter, and cocoa powder in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second increments until everything is melted, stirring in between bursts.

If you don't want to use the microwave, you could also do this on a double boiler.

Stir Together

Once everything has melted, give it a good stir to make sure it's all combined, then pour it into the bowl with the graham cracker crumbs and coconut.

Stir the chocolate mixture into the crumbs until everything is evenly coated and well combined. You can just use a wooden spoon for this, no need for a hand mixer or any other equipment.

Place the mixture in the fridge for 15 minutes, to make it easier to roll.

Roll Chocolate Balls

Once chilled, pour some powdered sugar into a shallow dish for rolling.

Take teaspoon-sized dollops of the mixture out of the bowl and roll them with your hands until they form round balls.

Drop each ball into the dish of powdered sugar and roll it around to coat entirely.

Repeat

Place the small balls on a plate or baking sheet, or into mini cupcake cases if you prefer.

Repeat until you have used all the mixture.

Enjoy your delicious homemade truffles with a cup of coffee, or use them to curb those mid-afternoon chocolate cravings. They're only little after all...

Variations

• Chocolate lover version - These chocolate balls are already pretty delicious and chocolatey, but if you wanted to take it up a notch, you could mix some chocolate chips into the mixture, or even drizzle some dark chocolate over the top.

• Other nuts - These are also really great with some other nuts added in. Sometimes I like to add crushed pecans for a little extra crunch.

• Citrus - Add some citrus notes to your Scottish truffles with a little orange zest, just to brighten up the flavor.

Storage

Store your chocolate balls at room temperature in an airtight container, with parchment paper in between the layers of truffles. They will theoretically keep like this for about a week, but realistically, there's no way they will last this long without all being eaten!