Chocolate Citrus Candies (refined Sugar-free)

If you're looking for delicious homemade candies or lovely edible gifts, this is it! There are 3 citrus fillings: grapefruit, lemon and orange. Sugar-free chocolate ball candies are soft and chewy - perfect Christmas treats.

These candies are made with healthy ingredients, sweetened with natural stevia and erythritol.

Chocolate balls are sweetened with stevia. Stevia is a natural sugar substitute that is 300 times sweeter than regular sugar.

Delicious citrus filling is sweetened with erythritol. Erythritol is produced industrially with enzymatic hydrolysis of the starch from corn to generate glucose. It occurs naturally in fruits like pears and plums. Erythritol is a 1:1 substitute to sugar with 0 calories, tooth-friendly!

This recipe makes 14 candies. You will have some extra citrus cream.

For the citrus filling:
80 g or 5 cubes of butter
3/4 cup or 130 g erythritol, granulated
1 whole egg + 2 egg yolks (medium eggs)
70 ml fresh orange juice (1/2 orange)
70 ml fresh lemon juice ( 1 1/2 small lemons)
70 ml fresh grapefruit juice ( 1/2 medium grapefruit)
Yellow and red food gel coloring

Chocolate balls:
1 cup almond meal or 150 g raw almonds (a little more than 1 cup)
1/2 cup shredded coconut or 60 g
4 tbsp cocoa powder, unsweetened
1 small banana
1 tsp coconut oil, melted
8 drops liquid stevia

Decoration (all 3 or one of these options)
1/4 cup almond flakes
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup granulated erythritol

Equipment:
Bowls and pots
Ice-cream scoop
Teaspoons and tablespoons
A flat tray
Pestle
Food processor or coffee grinder, if you're using raw almonds

Wash all citrus fruits and juice them separately.

Whip egg and egg yolks for 5 minutes until thick and creamy.

Gradually add erythritol, whipping.

Add cubes of butter, one by one. Whip until incorporated. Don't worry if it is lumpy. The lumps will melt in the next step!

Distribute the filling to 3 bowls and add one of the citrus juices in each bowl.

Mix with a hand whisk, and don't forget which bowl is orange, lemon and grapefruit!

Place every bowl on the pot with boiling water (Bain-Marie or double boiler). Set to the lowest heat and cook for an hour, whisking from time to time.

While citrus cream filling is cooking, prepare all ingredients for the chocolate ball.

Make almond meal. Use coffee grinder or food processor to make almond meal. You can use a store-bought almond meal and skip this step!

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl - cocoa powder, almond meal and shredded coconut.

Mash banana, add stevia and mix together.

Add mashed banana with stevia to the dry ingredients and combine.

Add melted coconut butter and mix once again until all well-combined.

Make sure the chocolate mixture is like a very wet, sticky sand.

After 1 hour on Bain-Marie or double-boiler, your filling should be thick and creamy.

Add food coloring, because at this point all the fillings will look the same.

Add few drops of yellow food coloring to lemon filling, mix.

Add yellow and red coloring to the orange filling, mix. Add more, if needed, until you have orange color.

Add a little bit of red coloring to the grapefruit cream, mix until it has rose-grapefruit color.

Prepare all the ingredients to assemble candies. Prepare a tray, layered with parchment paper.

Use an ice-cream scoop for portions. You can use a tablespoon instead.

Scoop chocolate mixture and roll a ball between your hands. Make a well in the center and add about 1/2 tsp of filling. Roll the ball between your hands.

Place the ball on the parchment paper.

Repeat with other citrus cream fillings until you have about 14 candies.

Place every ball in a row, so you know which filling is inside.

You will have some leftover cream.

Crush some almond flakes with pestle in a small bowl.

Add erythritol in another small bowl and shredded coconut in the third one.

Add chocolate balls one by one in the bowl and dust with two teaspoons. It should be covered in one of the ingredients from all sides.

I used coconut for orange candies, almond flakes for lemon candies and erythritol for the tangy grapefruit candy.

With a help of 2 spoons, transfer each ball back to the parchment paper or right to the serving plate.

Store candies for about 2 weeks in the fridge. Remove from the fridge 30-60 minutes before serving. You can transport them to your friend, if you eat them the same day!

You will have some leftover cream, you can store it in the jar, in the fridge for about 1-2 weeks.

The filling is enough for another batch of chocolate candies! Or you can eat it as it is, it is so addictive... My favorite is lemon cream filling!

It is not possible to use less ingredients for the cream filling, as it can easily burn. You can use only one flavor instead of 3.

You can wrap these chocolate citrus candies to make a healthy sweet Christmas or Birthday gift! We love homemade gifts, do you? This is such a lovely gift for your friend or family member. Don't tell him or her what is inside, let the person guess the filling. Oh, and kids will love these candies, too!

If you like this instructable, you should also check our Giant Black Pearl instructable and Easy Christmas truffles on our blog.