Feeling the love with Divine chocolate and homemade truffles

When people talk about eating guilt-free treats, they're usually talking about a lack of calories but let's be honest, given the choice between a chocolate bar and a carrot stick, what are you going to choose ?! Divine have a different way of doing guilt-free, using nothing but the finest Fairtrade certified Ghanaian cocoa, grown with pride by Kuapa Kokoo, a co-operative of small holder cocoa farmers who co-own Divine, ensuring they receive a share of the profits for the chocolate. What’s more, Divine’s caramel is completely palm oil free and the other ingredients are sourced from Fairtrade growing communities around the world, including sugar from Kasinthula, a Malawian Fairtrade co-operative, and creamy vanilla from Fairtrade farmers in Madagascar. Feeling virtuous about where my chocolate has come from somehow makes it taste even more indulgent, decadent and - yep - definitely guilt-free !

Divine had some more great news to share - their delicious creamy caramel-filled bars (in both milk and dark chocolate) are currently on offer at Tesco so you can pick up two for a very reasonable£1.20. They also have a brand new big bar available , Dark Chocolate with Almonds and Raisins - their signature dark, rich and velvety Fairtrade chocolate wrapped around juicy sun-ripened raisins and crunchy chopped almonds.

The good news just kept on coming - I was delighted to win this gorgeous selection of Fairtrade chocolate in a competition on twitter, including lots of Divine bars. 

The blue and red packs each contain a selection of four yummy bars. The Mint Thins (very similar to After Eights) were a revelation and were the first thing to disappear !

Also in my prize pack were four recipe cards which all sounded rather lovely - Gregg Wallace's Chocolate Puddle Pudding, Divine Fridge Cake, Rachel Khoo's Divine Delight and, the one that we decided to try, Hazelnut & Raspberry Dark Chocolate Truffles. You can see the original recipe here, created by Dubai chef and brainchild behind online lifestyle channel This Dude Knows Food, Paul Frangie, especially for Chocolate Week 2014. You can also see my tweaked version below.

Divine Hazelnut & Raspberry Dark Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients:

150g ground almonds

1 sachet Ready Brek (ultrafine porridge oats)

1 bar Divine 70% Dark Chocolate with Raspberries

1 bar Divine 70% Dark Chocolate

50g Butter

crushed hazelnuts & sprinkles

The original recipe used two bars of the raspberry chocolate but I only had one so I substituted the second one for plain dark chocolate. It still had a lovely rich raspberry flavour though.

Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave in very short bursts.

Keep stirring until smooth and glossy.

Stir in the ground almonds - the original recipe calls for 250g ground hazelnuts but I used up the end of a bag of ground almonds and used a sachet of Ready Brek to make up the weight. Chill in the fridge just long enough for it to be workable but not so long that it sets solid. If it does go too far, put it back in the microwave for a short burst and start again.

Working quickly, roll a spoonful of mixture in your hands to create a ball then roll in sprinkles or chopped hazelnuts to coat. You could use cocoa powder for a smoother texture but we liked the extra crunch of the coating. Keep in the fridge but take them out a few minutes before eating them.

Disclosure : I received some Divine bars in order to write an honest review, and won some more in a giveaway.