Cocoa bonbons are treats made without gluten, without eggs or butter, and they don’t require baking. They are delicious and very, very easy to prepare. Cocoa bonbons are suitable for all occasions, whether you want to indulge yourself with something tasty, finish an important lunch or dinner stylishly, celebrate at parties and sweet buffets, accompany coffee or tea, or make a delightful gift idea. These exquisite homemade chocolates should be prepared well in advance, allowing the flavors and aromas to blend uniformly. They can be personalized and enriched as you like with nuts, candied fruit, coffee, liqueur, raisins, dried apricots, cherries in syrup, and so on. If you use already sweetened cocoa, there will be no need to add powdered sugar. I always recommend tasting to decide whether to add more sugar.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Rest time: 12 Hours
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 40
- Cooking methods: No-bake
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Fall, Winter, and Spring
Ingredients
- 5.3 oz unsweetened cocoa powder (also gluten-free)
- 5.3 oz powdered sugar (also gluten-free)
- 0.5 cup hot milk (also lactose-free)
- to taste grated orange zest (very finely)
- to taste nuts (chopped pistachios, walnuts, almonds)
- 0.85 oz moka coffee
- 1 teaspoon liqueur of choice
Steps
1) In a large bowl, sift the cocoa, add the powdered sugar, grated orange zest, and the hot milk (otherwise it wouldn’t be absorbed by the cocoa). Add the milk gradually and stir with a wooden spoon or fork until you get a firm, workable dough; be careful not to exceed the recommended liquid amounts (milk plus any coffee or liqueur) because the mixture could become unmanageable.
The cocoa paste is now ready to be customized.
Here are some ideas to make them even more delicious and/or decorative.
a- Nut Bonbons. Divide the dough into three parts. In one, we’ll add walnut pieces, in another pistachio pieces, and finally, in the third, almond pieces. Mix well, and using a teaspoon, scoop out a ball slightly smaller than a walnut, weighing 10 grams. Roll it in your palm and place it on a plate. The same applies if using raisins or dried apricots, which should be finely chopped with a knife before adding to the cocoa paste.
b- Continue like this until you finish the dough. Roll the bonbons in cocoa powder or the respective nut pieces (if you want to distinguish them) and place them directly on the serving tray or in paper liners, always on a tray. The cocoa bonbons are ready; cover the tray completely and put it in the fridge, in the least cold part. Let them rest in the fridge for a whole day, so they become even tastier.
c- Coffee or Liqueur Bonbons. To flavor them with liqueur or coffee, just replace some milk with the desired amount of coffee or liqueur, as long as the total liquid amount does not exceed 125 ml.
d- This means that for coffee, we’ll use 100 ml of milk and 25 ml of strong moka coffee.
e- For liqueur, we’ll use, for example, 5 ml of liqueur and 120 ml of milk; or 10 ml of liqueur and 115 ml of milk.
f- Mix thoroughly, form the balls, roll them in cocoa, and store them as described above.
Cocoa bonbons last in the fridge, well-sealed, for at least 3 days. Before enjoying them, leave them at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
