I love to give handmade gifts at Christmas and truffles are very often thrust upon my friends and family because they are extremely quick and easy yet still seem a little taste of luxury.

These Christmas spiced chocolate truffles will also be adorning our own dinner table this year, because we have a dairy intolerant guest joining us, and having scoured the supermarket aisles (and done many a taste test) I find shop-bought dairy free truffles generally overpriced and overrated.

You can make these your own by omitting the chilli or cinnamon, swopping in rum or brandy for the orange juice, and coating in nuts or dessicated coconut instead of cocoa powder.

Ingredients

200g dark chocolate (dairy free)

100g coconut oil

1 orange

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 dried chilli

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Pinch of sea salt flakes

Cocoa powder, for rolling

Method

Break the chocolate into small chunks and put into a small saucepan with the coconut oil. Zest the orange into the pan, then chop it in half and squeeze in a couple of tablespoons of the juice. Add the vanilla, dried chilli, cinnamon and sea salt to the pan. Gently heat, stirring regularly, until the coconut oil and chocolate have completely melted. Remove from the heat and allow to sit and cool for half an hour, leaving the chilli in to infuse. Then remove the chilli and put the pan into the fridge to allow the mixture to solidify.

After half an hour to an hour the mixture should be firm enough to roll into balls. Take a teaspoon to scoop out small amounts, then shape into balls with your hands (it may help to wet your hands slightly) Roll in cocoa powder to coat (or mix it up and roll some in dessicated coconut or finely chopped nuts)

Store in the fridge. They will keep for up to a week.