These are raw. Vegan (if you substitute agave for the honey & skip the bee pollen in favor of a dusting of chamomile—I use honey, but do not use bee products of any kind if vegan or cooking for vegans!). Gluten & refined sugar free. Paleo? Kosher? Superfood? I don’t know. I vaguely care. I care if you care because I care about you. But ultimately, the labels aren’t what interests me. What interests me is their flavor and their sheer, old power. If you labor under dietary restrictions for health, religious, or philosophical reasons—these are the truffles for you, obviously. But say you’re like me, someone who will eat pretty much anything in moderation so long as it’s not produced in a way that makes your soul cringe or stomach turn? And who sometimes maybe eats Spaghettios to the detriment of yourself and the entire world? Who compulsively buys butter even with plenty at home because oh my god what if I’m wrong and I don’t have butter? Someone who bakes with white flour & white sugar without shame? Why would you bother? Because treats for the sake of nothing more than sensual pleasure are grand in mindful moderation, but they’re not as grand as treats with return. Sensual pleasures that are good for you, that build you up, are basically the holy grail of pleasures. Which is what these are.

As those of you who follow me on Instagram know, I’ve been without a stove (or sink) for over a month now due to renovating the kitchen with Tara & Percy of The Jersey Ice Cream Co. (I can’t wait to reveal their beautiful work later this month when my new range arrives!) Anyhow, having no stove, counter, or shelves and doing dishes in the bathroom sink has resulted in no new recipes from me for a while, naturally. When I partnered with U.S. t-shirt makers Pickwick & Weller to explore the things that inspire us all & share about their #PickWell campaign (Share your memorable moments—from your morning coffee to a tree line—along with the #Pickwell hashtag on Instagram and get $10 off your order. Each time you do it. Yep.), I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Being a cook without a kitchen wasn’t feeling terribly inspiring. Then these raw truffles came to me, and I realized it’s actually my limitations that often inspire me, and that’s why, while I might not have a horse in the raw vegan food race, I find making it invigorating. Limits and constraints push us to find elegant solutions. It’s the virtue of the sonnet. Parameters—from budgets to metre to dietary restrictions—in skilled hands will yield creativity you’d never get without them. When we strive to live within reasonable bounds—like buying & eating locally or making the healthier choice (from time to time at least…)—the result is we experience more, not less. Giving yourself whatever you want whenever you want is itself a kind of slavery, tyranny of the self. So if you’re a doubting doubter, I urge you to step outside your comfort zone and try making these truffles. They’re a revelation. And speaking of things that don’t interest me along the lines of labels, it’s Valentine’s Day soon, so tis the season for truffle making, right? You’ve really no excuse. In order to rescue Valentine’s Day from being the sole province of romantic love, make these for your mom, your best friend, your kids, and that super sexy hearts and stars person too. I know I will be. I’d like truffles and this linen tank, plskthx. Now a little more about these enigmatic truffles…

Old power. Deep roots that tend on down. These are bites that taste of the way the world is stitched. They taste like good karma, like floating in the milky way. As opposed to thrashing against it like so many of us in this brave new world love to do (myself oft included). Creamy fat of coconut, ruddy raw cocoa, sea salt, and raw Tupelo honey (or whatever raw honey you can find locally) form the base. From there, you can play. My favorite additions, perhaps because they amplify the already outrageous health benefits of these truffles, are hemp seeds and bee pollen. The pollen is so earthy and sweet, the hemp hearts nutty and warm. A few dried flowers ground to a fine powder here, some raw almond butter there. Cayenne. Ground white tea & rose petals. Peppermint leaves. Vanilla bean. Ceylon cinnamon. Freshly grated nutmeg. Citrus zest. Just a few suggestions in addition to the recipes below. Really, you can do anything with these. Blank canvas. Flax or chia seeds would be good too. And bitter cocoa nibs. The two I’m giving you here are my favorites so far. I really like them with Earl Gray powder in them too. And they’re very smart with smoked salt (not being a raw foodist, I can’t say whether smoked salt ruins their raw food street cred? I guess it doesn’t if it doesn’t go above 104°F?). As a general rule I roll them in the crunchier, chunkier bits like seeds and nibs (with the exception of salt, which I put inside), and I grind up any dried herbs or what have you that I want put inside.

If you want to check out more about Pickwick & Weller, here’s a beautiful video that pretty much captures what they’re all about…fresh pasta to sparklers.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post, and I was compensated for my participation. The opinions, stories, recipes, and ramblings are, as per usual, all my own.