Our contributor, Julie Pecarski, founder of Eat Life Balance, developed this amazing gluten-free matcha truffle recipe to satisfy all of your matcha cravings while feeling guilt free! Eat Life Balance is a health and lifestyle solutions resource for career-driven women looking to improve their health through a holistic-approach to nutrition and radical self-care. Check out her full blog post here

Ingredients

Matcha Balls
3/4 cup almonds
1/2 cup cashews
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons maple syrup
3 tablespoons coconut oil
2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 tablespoon Whisk Matcha
Pinch of sea salt

Matcha Glaze
4 tablespoons coconut oil melted
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1 Tbls Matcha
Pinch of sea salt

Directions
In your processor, combine all ingredients of your matcha balls.

Once combined and able to stick together between your fingers, roll into tablespoon balls and place onto a sheet pan and place in the freezer for about 20 minutes or until solid.

Make your glaze whisking together your oil, vanilla, and matcha in a small dish.

Remove the balls and by using a spoon, roll your matcha balls into the glaze and place back onto a sheet pan. The coconut glaze should set pretty quickly.

Once all are done, repeat again for a second time.

Store in fridge or freezer.

Made this for a friend's daughter who is allergic to egg, with gluten & lactose intolerance. It was quite challenging at the beginning to come up with a creative treat that can accommodate her dietary restrictions while pleasing the little palate. I started searching for gluten-free dairy-free dessert options and came across a mochi recipe made with milk and butter. I replaced milk with almond milk, and used coconut oil instead of butter. It turned out great! As usual, I cut down the sugar in half and doubled the amount of matcha powder to start with. The flavour of first batch came out a bit too strong and I had to sprinkle confectioners sugar on top; the second batch I brought back 1/4 amount of sugar and it's scrumptious.

When making matcha gluten-free desserts, please make sure to use the purest matcha as a lot of low grade matcha contains gluten and sweeteners. For this particular batch, I used Whisk Premium Organic Ceremonial. It's truly a healthful snack for both adults & children. Here comes the recipe :)

Ingredients:

1 cup Organic Tapioca Flour (bought from IGA)

1 & 1/2 cup Organic Almond Milk

2 tbsp Premium Organic Ceremonial Matcha

1/2 cup Organic Cane Sugar

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp Organic Coconut Oil melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300C

2. Mix well tapioca flour, matcha powder, sugar and baking powder together

3. Slowly add almond milk to dry ingredients

4. Add melted coconut oil and stir well

5. Pour into a glass baking dish (next time I will try using cupcake baking tray instead), and bake for 25 minutes.

Enjoy!