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.

Red wine chocolate truffles rolled in berry dust sitting on a marble platter with a couple bitten from. Next to wine and dried rose petals on a pink linen.

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.

Melted truffle mixture in a small dish topped with flaky sea salt and dried rose petals next to empty bowl of chocolate.

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.

Red wine truffle mixture laced with dried rose petals scooped with a small cookie scoop.

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!

Chocolate red wine truffles rolled in berry dust and stacked on top of each other. Close up on one that's been bitten from showing texture and teethmarks.

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.

Close up on a red wine chocolate truffle sprinkled with flaky sea salt and dried rose petals.

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.

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