yuzu-sichuan peppercorn truffles

i have always been intimidated by desserts and sweets in general. Truffles seemed like something you had to study in France in order to have a clue. Nonetheless i have been developing a fair amount of rather tasty and sometimes unique sweet dishes and i am rather proud of some of the accomplishments, particularly the vegan ice creams i have developed the past few years and have shared some recipes here on the blog and elsewhere.

Here is my first experiment with making truffles.

1 cup cocoa, very high grade
1 cup maple syrup
2 cups cashews
2 yuzu, juice and zest
several sichuan peppercorns ground down

in a food processor, grind the cashews down to butter. Then simply add the next 2 ingredients and blend very well and till totally smooth. Add yuzu juice and peppercorns and zest and mix well then refrigerate overnight.

Now you will need some matcha powder. Matcha is the powdered green tea from the Japanese tea ceremony, a delightful bittersweet flavor.
with a melon baller, create small balls. Roll the balls in matcha and refrigerate immediately.