Paleo "Oreo" Truffles

This recipe is a total accident. It shouldn't have happened, but I am so glad that it did! I was trying to make brownies, I messed up and BOOM something magical happened. A flop turned out to be a hit, which also happens to taste like OREO COOKIES! I am not even joking about that right now... I would NEVER joke about that.

I haven't had a real Oreo cookie in years. I honestly used to love them and, you know, you could never eat just one. Whether you took a bite right out of the cookie or peeled the sandwhich apart and ate the cream filling first, Oreos are nostalgic for so many of us.

This happens to be the last recipe that I made that my Grama Winnie tried. Sadly, she recently passed away and, while she loved many things that I made, I am happy to say that I got to make her one more yummy thing a few weeks before she passed away.

Sometimes things don't always turn out how we want them to. I struggle with this, for sure. I was ready to just toss this "brownie" mess-up in the trash and thought, okay well, it doesn't taste bad but the texture is no-bueno. What could I do to turn this around and at least TRY something out? With a little of this and a little of that, this almost-trashed "brownie" turned into something that I really couldn't have even TRIED to a make.

But, by total accident, I now have a tasty OREO-TASTING truffle.

Also, I should note that there is peppermint extract in this. This does not taste like a peppermint chocolate truffle. There is very minimal peppermint in this recipe, which I am sure you could omit. However, there is something about that teeny tiny bit of peppermint that really make these taste like Oreo Cookies.

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INGREDIENTS

"Brownie"

1 egg*

1 cup creamy almond butter

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup avocado/coconut oil blend

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

Crumbled Brownie

2 TB almond butter

1/4 tsp peppermint extract

Chocolate Coating

3 TB coconut oil, melted

3 TB cocoa powder

1 1/2 maple syrup, room temperature

Rolled Coconut

1/2 cup shredded coconut

*You could use a flax egg for this to make it vegan. Mix 1 TB of flax seed meal (I like this brand) with 3 TB warm water and let it sit for 3 minutes until it gels up.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, combine all BROWNIE ingredients together. Mix together the egg (or flax egg), almond butter, coconut sugar, cocoa powder, oil, baking soda, sea salt and vanilla extract.

Pour batter into an 8 x 8 baking dish, sprayed with olive oil or coconut oil spray first.

Bake for 20-22 minutes until middle is cooked all the way through. Allow too cool.

Once cooled, crumble the "brownie" into a mixing bowl and add 2 TB almond butter and 1/4 tsp of peppermint extract.

With a tablespoon or eye-balling it, roll into small balls and place in the fridge for a few minutes while preparing the chocolate coating.

In a small bowl, mix melted coconut oil with room temperature maple syrup and cocoa powder and stir. Pour 1/2 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut into a bowl.

Remove balls from fridge.

Dip balls into chocolate, then roll in shredded coconut.

Store in fridge. Enjoy!