If you’re making your own oat flour, take slightly more than 1/4 cup of rolled oats (22 grams) and add it to a food processor. Blitz until the oats have turned into a fine powder. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. If you’re using store-bought oat flour, skip this step.

If you are not using a high powered food processor and/or if your dates are quite dry and not sticky, soak the dates in hot water for a few minutes to soften. Drain and squeeze out the excess water really well.

Chop your steamed or roasted beet. Add the beets, dates, vanilla extract, salt, and 1/4 cup or 4 tablespoons of the cacao powder (or 20g) to a food processor. Process until the ingredients are well combined and starting to come together as a sticky paste.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of cacao powder (or 10g) and the oat flour to the food processor. Blend again until the ingredients are well combined and a dough has formed. Taste and add more salt, as desired. The dough will be quite sticky at this point.

Transfer the dough to a bowl and cover. Freeze for at least 1-2 hours. This step is essential, so don’t skip it.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt the dark chocolate in a large bowl, using either a double boiler method, or in in the microwave in 30-second intervals. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Remove the truffle dough from the freezer. Using a rounded tablespoon or mini ice cream scooper, scoop the truffle dough and roll into evenly-sized balls. Transfer the balls to the baking sheet.

I highly recommend wearing food-safe gloves while rolling the balls because the dough is sticky and beets tend to stain, so your hands will get really messy if you roll them with your bare hands.

Using a slotted spoon or similar utensil, dip one truffle at a time into the melted dark chocolate, and coat it all over. Transfer back to the baking sheet and sprinkle with the toppings of your choice. Work quickly, as the melted chocolate will set pretty quickly and your toppings won’t stick once the chocolate has set. Repeat with each truffle.

You can serve them immediately, but I prefer to return them to the freezer for 15-30 minutes to set. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the freezer (they don’t need to be defrosted).