I am a food blogger. Yep, just in case you hadn’t noticed. Why do I blog about food? Well, that’s the million dollar question, really, isn’t it?

The main reason I slave over a hot oven, take pictures for hours, then show them off to the world is because I enjoy it. Is it hard sometimes? Oh, yep. When my cakes are flatter than pancakes; when my photos look like crap; when all my efforts seem in vain (which happens a lot).

However, if I am being totally honest here, a huge reason I blog about my food is because I enjoy the attention it brings me.

When people tell me my doughnuts look amazing, it is like someone telling me my kids are gorgeous, or kind, or sweet. I am fully aware that this makes me sound a little self-obsessed and/or needy, and I guess there’s no denying that.

But attention aside, there is just something so therapeutic about it all; it unfurls my creative side (one I didn’t really know existed) and brings me a ton of pride and satisfaction.

Surprisingly, before this, I’d never eaten an avocado (other than a miniscule bite many moons ago), and up until recently, had no desire to, either. There was just something so slimy and unappetising about them. I know. I know most of the world will be raising their eyebrows with incredulity, but that’s how I felt.

My family likes them – spooned right out of the skin like a hard-boiled egg. We had a couple we needed to use up, so I thought I would give chocolate truffles a go. I have to be honest here and say I wasn’t expecting to like them at all. But you know, I pride myself on my ability to see where I am wrong (sometimes). And this time? So, SO wrong.

Not only are these so simple to make and the creamiest truffle ev-ah, they are also adaptable. I made some with a whole hazelnut inside and others rolled in crushed hazelnuts.

However, there’s a sad end to this tale. About 20 minutes after eating three avocado truffles one after another (they were that good, believe me), I suddenly became very sick. My stomach bloated and the pain was unbearable. Other than homemade granola, which I’ve eaten so many times, I’d had nothing else to eat, so I naturally deducted that it must have been the avocado.

On researching this, it appears that many people have an adverse reaction. How unlucky am I? I discover the most amazing, healthy truffles and I can’t eat them? What kind of torture is that?

Thankfully, I had a family to wolf them down for me (and with no problems, either, so no off avocado to blame either, just my body’s ability to handle them. Sigh).

The measurements below made around 12 truffles.

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Dark Chocolate Avocado Hazelnut Truffles

Ingredients

• 1 avocado ripe
• 100g (just under 1 cup) good quality dark chocolate
• 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup
• whole/crushed hazelnuts

Instructions

1. Melt the dark chocolate and set to one side to cool.
2. Scoop out the flesh of the avocado and place in a food processor. Blitz until it is nice and smooth, scraping down the sides as you go.
3. Add the cooled chocolate and honey/maple syrup and mix until everything is well combined. Pour out into a bowl and refrigerate for around 30-60 minutes (you should be able to handle the mixture and roll into balls).
4. Roll into around 12 balls. For half of them, flatten the balls and place a whole hazelnut in the centre. Roll it back into a ball so the hazelnut is covered. For the others, roll the balls in crushed/chopped hazelnuts until they have a nice, even covering.
5. Store in the fridge until ready to eat. Enjoy!