Practice self-love by making these berry dusted red wine chocolate truffles laced with flaky sea salt and dried rose petals. A decadent way to celebrate YOU this Valentine’s Day.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been personally victimized by Valentine’s Day. Okay, so now that we agree V-Day is the worst (and Mean Girls is still the best), I think we all could use some TLC.
Whether you’re single or taken, give yourself permission to treat yourself, this year. Take a bubble bath, buy yourself flowers, go on a walk, or binge reality TV. And definitely make a batch of these berry dusted red wine chocolate truffles with sea salt and dried rose petals. You will feel like royalty.

The Breakdown
Because we are making these truffles for Valentine’s Day, I wanted the colors to be bold, but classy. I got the idea to roll truffles in a colorful powder after writing the post 3 Interesting Ways to Use Your Coffee Grinder. Instead of using beetroot powder, I used freeze-dried strawberries and raspberries for a sweet and tangy element to balance out the bitterness of the wine and dark chocolate.
I added some flaky sea salt to the mix because sweet and salty combos are life and dried rose petals because we deserve it, ok?? Totally not required, but they make me feel like a damn princess every time I use them. And since we decided Valentine’s Day is all about self-love, it seemed appropriate.

To make the flavor a bit more interesting, I added a dash of cardamom to the base. Cardamom is a warm spice made from the seeds of an herbaceous plant in the ginger family. The flavor is complex and aromatic and can differ depending on whether you use black or green cardamom. It has a zesty, citrusy flavor with sweet and almost spicy notes. When used in excess, it can become super pungent and menthol like, so use with discretion if that’s not your thing. You can also leave it out if you want a more classic vibe.
Tips for Making the Best Red Wine Chocolate Truffles
There are a few key things to keep in mind when making these red wine chocolate truffles. Let’s get into it.
To start, you’ll want to keep your truffles fairly small in size—these babies are rich. The first time I made them, I used an ice cream scoop to shape the balls and LOL they were huuuge.

A 1-2 tbsp sized cookie scoop is perfect, plus it’s a great way to get a uniform shape. You’ll want one that has a lever to release the filling to avoid handling the chocolate with your hands. Which brings me to my next tip.
Avoid over handling the truffle mixture with your hands. The warmth from your hands will melt the chocolate v quickly, which is messy and frustrating. TRUST ME. It also helps to put the truffle mixture in the freezer for about 15 mins before scooping the balls.
For the shape, you can scoop the balls and quickly roll them so they are completely rounded, but I prefer to just scoop and drop the balls into the berry powder to avoid using my hands. I don’t mind the imperfect shapes—it gives them character and is way less messy!

And my final tip is to put the berry powder in a small, but somewhat deep dish—a pint size deli container works perfectly for this. Drop balls into the powder and shake them around in the container to coat instead of rolling them around in a wider, more narrow dish. It is sooo much more efficient.
Ooh! Last thing. After crushing the freeze-dried berries in the food processor, sift the powder to get the seeds out. This will give you a nice, smooth powder to work with.
How to Ditch the Recipe: Red Wine Chocolate Truffle Edition
Okay, now for my favorite part—ditching the recipe! There are a million and one ways to take these truffles, but below are a few suggestions to get your creative juices flowing.
Chocolate: I used a combination of milk, semi-sweet, and dark chocolate for a slightly more bitter than sweet truffle. But you can use whatever damn chocolate you like, in whichever ratios you like. Here are some options—white chocolate, milk chocolate, semi-sweet, dark, cacao, or even ruby chocolate. IYKYK.
Wine: For the best flavor, choose a full-bodied red wine with a high alcohol percentage (about 13.5% or above) to complement and cut through the richness of the chocolate. Merlot, cabernet, malbec, and syrah are all great options. I chose one with a pretty bottle, so honestly you do you, here. I haven’t tried a white or rosé, so I can’t speak to that, but I feel like that might be a good option for a white or ruby chocolate truffle. Let me know if you try it!
Filling: Instead of using sea salt and dried rose petals, you could leave them out completely or swap with dried lavender, crunchy nuts like hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds, and peanuts – or seeds such as pumpkin, chia, sunflower, and sesame. You could also swap the cardamom with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, turmeric, ginger, or cayenne for some sass.
Coating: I use raspberries and strawberries, but any type of freeze dried fruit you can find will work. I think blueberries would be delicious. If you’re feeling earthy, you could use beetroot powder. Or keep it simple with cocoa powder or powdered sugar. I actually enjoy them sans coating with an extra sprinkle of sea salt, as well.

Additions: Crystallized ginger or chopped dried fruit. Or something savory like rosemary or thyme. I wouldn’t hate on a smoked sea salt or dried chili peppers, either. Ooh maybe some puffed cereal like Rice Crispies for some crunch.
Okay I’m getting too excited, let’s get to the recipe. Have a beautiful Valentine’s Day and show yourself some love, my friends!
Enjoy.

Berry Dusted Red Wine Chocolate Truffles with Sea Salt + Dried Roses
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup full bodied red wine merlot, cab, syrah, malbec
- 16 oz chocolate chips (we used a combo) milk, semi-sweet, and dark
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- dried rose petals optional
- flaky sea salt optional
- 1 package freeze-dried raspberries crushed and sifted
- 1 package freeze-fried strawberries crushed and sifted
Instructions
- Heat the chocolate with a double boiler. or If you don't have a double boiler – put chocolate in a glass bowl and set it on top of a pot of simmering water. Stir occasionally until chocolate is completely melted.
- In a small separate pot, heat the cream, butter, vanilla, and cardamom until it just starts to bubble. Turn off heat and add the hot cream mixture to the chocolate. Stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until completely combined. Add wine and continue to mix until consistency is smooth and silky.
- Pour chocolate mixture into an 8×8 inch square dish and sprinkle top generously with flaky sea salt and dried rose petals (optional). refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours, until firm.
- To make the berry powder, place your freeze-dried berries (one kind at a time) into a food processor and pulse until a powder forms. If there are lots of seeds, sift to remove and put powder in a small, but somewhat deep dishes such as a plastic pint size deli container.
- About 15 minutes prior to scooping the truffles, put the chocolate in the freezer to firm up slightly. Scoop the mixture with a 1-2 tbsp sized cookie scoop and release into the berry powder. You can shape balls with your hands before coating, but I prefer to scoop and drop right into the powder. You can fix the shape after, if desired.
- I like to do some without the berry coating and just top with more flaky sea salt. Store in the fridge in an airtight containers for 1-2 weeks. The coating won't look as pretty once they're refrigerated, so if serving to guests – plan to coat them day of.
Notes
Did you make these red wine truffles??
Tag @ditchtherecipe on Instagram and hashtag #ditchtherecipe

0 Comments
Very unique truffles ! Very Colorful ! Love it
Thank you!