Raw salted chocolate cardamom truffles

Photo credit: http://wayfaringchocolate.com/2011/02/09/raw-vegan-marzipan-balls/

Raw | Vegan | Whole food ingredients | No refined sugar

MAKES: About 30 small-ish truffles (depends how large you make them)

PREP TIME: ~30 minutes

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 c. organic raw almonds
1/4 c. organic raw walnuts
1/4 c. organic hemp seeds (hemp hearts); optional: If don't want to use these, sub 1/4 c. walnuts
1/3 c. organic raw unsweetened cacao powder + a little more for dusting
1/4 t. organic ground nutmeg
1/2 t. organic ground cinnamon
1/8-1/4 t. organic ground cardamom (to taste - I go with 1/4 t. but it's quite strong)
1/4 t. fine sea or Himalayan salt
1 c. pitted organic dates, chopped
2 t. vanilla extract
1/16-1/8 c. water (to desired texture)
Coarse sea or Himalayan salt, for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

1. Place almonds, walnuts and hemp seeds into food processor and process until a fine mixture (may need to stop and scrape down the sides a few times). Note I also own a Vitamix and while I love it for...pretty much everything...in my opinion, these types of raw desserts do better in the food processor. It seems to mix better and it's easier to remove the "dough" at the end.
2. Add in cacao --> salt and mix briefly to incorporate.
3. Add in dates, vanilla and 1/16 c. water and mix to incorporate. Test a chunk of the mixture to see if it will clump together and roll into balls. If not, add a touch (don't need much!) more water, mix and test again until it's the correct consistency.
4. Take about 2 t. of the mixture (adjust to whatever size truffle you want), mold it in your hands a bit to get it to start sticking to itself, then roll it between your palms to form a ball. After you make a few, the mixture will be sticking to your hands and can make rolling the truffles difficult. Washing your hands and using slightly wet hands helps with this.
5. After all truffles have been formed, sprinkle (to taste) with coarse salt (you can do a couple of test truffles to see how much salt you like), then dust with cacao using a fine mesh strainer.