Tag Archives: truffles

Cream Cheese Chocolate Truffles

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Veronica

Here’s another easy-peasy recipe that you can add to your holiday spread, or package up for gifts! And it makes a ton, so there really is plenty for a crowd. And did I mention they’re delicious? Because they are.

The original recipe instructs you to refrigerate the truffle mixture for an hour, but I take a shortcut and roll them into balls immediately. This is particularly beneficial if you decide to roll them in nuts,* because they adhere much easier to the softer truffles than when they’re hard after refrigerating.

*I like to use ice cream nut topping because the nuts are chopped nice and fine, salted, and have a little sugar added.

As a last note, if you like the look of truffles rolled in cocoa powder but don’t like the bitter edge to them, you can add powdered sugar to your cocoa to sweeten it before rolling. It’s been a while since I made these, but I’m 95% certain this is what I did, and that little white spot on one the truffle in the back on the right most likely confirms it. (Might want to sift your powdered sugar so it blends perfectly!) I think I remember remarking that they seemed more likely to be approved by the general public, but I do like the bitterness of pure cocoa to contrast the sweet truffle. Whatever floats your boat!

Cream Cheese Chocolate Truffles

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until well blended. Stir in melted chocolate and vanilla until no streaks remain. Shape into 1 inch balls, then roll in cocoa powder, finely chopped nuts, or powdered sugar. Store in an airtight container and serve at room temperature. You may refrigerate the truffles if you won’t be serving them for several days, but remove them at least ½ hour before serving.

Makes about 60 truffles.

Recipe source: Allrecipes

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Posted in Candy and tagged chocolate, cream cheese, easy, edible gifts, gifts, holidays, recipe, truffles. Bookmark the permalink.

Ghirardelli Sinful Chocolate Truffles

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Veronica

Perhaps two posts on truffles in a row is a bit excessive, but it’s the holidays and if I can’t be excessive now, then when can I?

Needless to say, I adore truffles. This is the recipe I’ve used most because it’s simple and reliable, but feel free to change it up by adding extracts or liqueur, or rolling the centers in different things (nuts, coconut, toffee), or by dipping them in chocolate. As with any good truffle recipe, this one yields a deliciously soft, creamy, satin-smooth, and deeply chocolate center that is sweet enough to offset the coating’s bitter edge. If you’ve never made truffles before, try this recipe–you won’t be disappointed!

Ghirardelli Sinful Chocolate Truffles

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 pound semisweet chocolate
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate and butter. In a medium sized skillet, bring 1/2 inch of water to a slow simmer. Set the saucepan in the skillet over low heat. Stir mixture just until chocolate has completely melted. Remove from heat. Pour the chocolate mixture into a pie plate. Cool, cover and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
Pour the cocoa into a pie plate. Line an airtight container with waxed paper. Dip a melon baller or small spoon into a glass of warm water and quickly scrape across the surface of the chilled truffle mixture to form a rough 1-inch ball. Drop the ball into the cocoa. Repeat with the remaining truffle mixture. Gently shake the pie plate to coat truffles evenly. Transfer truffles to the prepared container, separating layers with additional waxed paper. Cover tightly and refrigerate up to 2 weeks, or freeze up to 3 months.

Recipe source: slightly tweaked from Food Network

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Posted in Candy and tagged candy, chocolate, christmas, holidays, simple, truffles. Bookmark the permalink.

Peanutty Chocolate Truffles

Posted on December 7, 2010 by Veronica

I got this recipe from my friend, Katy, around this time last year, and adapted it to increase the chocolate flavor, replacing the hot chocolate mix with Dutch-process cocoa powder. If you’re a fan of chocolate and peanut butter like me, I guarantee you will love these! Delicious, and so easy to make! These would be a great addition to holiday spreads or food gifts, particularly if you need something in a hurry.

For more Christmas cookie and candy ideas, scroll below the recipe.

Peanutty Chocolate Truffles

Hershey’s Dark cocoa powder is now widely available in supermarkets, but you can substitute regular cocoa powder if you are unable to locate any Dutch-process cocoa powder.
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (Hershey’s Dark cocoa powder is now widely available in supermarkets)
1 cup finely chopped cocktail peanuts

Line baking sheets with wax paper. Beat peanut butter, butter and vanilla extract in medium bowl until creamy. Add powdered sugar and cocoa and beat until incorporated. Mixture will be thick. Place peanuts in a flat dish. Scoop peanut butter mixture into 1-inch balls; roll in peanuts to coat. Place on prepared baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm.

Recipe source: Katy R.

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Easy Italian Creme Cake

Butter Pecan-Rum Cake

Millionaire Shortbread Bars

Chocolate Caramel Walnut Brownies

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Posted in Candy and tagged baking, cake, candy, christmas, Cookies, holiday, peanut, recipe, truffles. Bookmark the permalink.

Cake Pops

Posted on January 20, 2010 by Veronica

**Update 5/12/11: If you are here looking for answers to cake pop questions, please check my Cake Pops FAQ and Troubleshooting Guide before leaving a comment. I also have a recipe for making cake pops or balls with leftover or broken cake here, a recipe for Vegan Dark Chocolate Cake Pops, and a recipe for Cupcake Bites (cake balls that look like little cupcakes–the easier version of cake balls). For my full pops index, click here.**

These pops are essentially cake truffles on a stick and are very simple to prepare: Bake a cake, mush it up with frosting, roll it into balls, insert a stick, and dip it in chocolate! These things really are a hit with kids because they are so fun, but adults seem to enjoy the delicious truffle-like confections equally well.

Want to make some? Here are step-by-step instructions, complete with videos.

Cake Pops
Makes 40-50 pops
Printable Recipe

What you will need:
1 (14.25 oz) box cake mix, any flavor
1 (16 oz) tub frosting, any flavor (you will not need all of it)
or 1/3-3/4 cup homemade frosting (I use my Cream Cheese Wedding Frosting)
1 (24 oz) package of almond bark/candy coating (white or chocolate)
Sprinkles
Lollipop sticks
3″x4″ cello bags
Curling ribbon

Bake the cake mix according to package directions. Once it’s cool, crumble the cake into a large bowl. I prefer to process mine in the food processor to fine crumbs. Place in a large bowl and stir in half of the frosting container or 1/3 cup of your homemade frosting. Mix with your hands until thoroughly combined and thick like a truffle center. Mix in additional frosting if necessary. You just want enough to get the crumbs to stick together when you roll them into balls. Do not add so much that the mixture becomes soft and mushy!

Roll mixture into 1″ balls and place on a cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or overnight. I usually do this step the day before and then dip them the following day. Do not freeze them before dipping or it may cause the chocolate to crack after they are dipped.

Melt chocolate in the microwave per directions on package. Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the flat end of the cake balls. (Bakerella says to insert a little less than halfway, but I go more than halfway b/c I imagine they stay put a little better when dipping.)

The cake balls will have a flat bottom from resting on the cookie sheet. Insert the stick into this end so the top will be round.

Carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered. Once covered, remove and softly tap and rotate until the excess chocolate falls off. Don’t tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too. Immediately cover with sprinkles before the chocolate has a chance to set, then insert in a styrofoam block to harden.

You want the chocolate to come over the platform you created when inserting the chocolate-dipped stick, but you don’t have to cover it all the way to the stick.

Tap off the excess chocolate.

Add sprinkles before the chocolate has a chance to set.

I wrap my styrofoam board in plastic wrap to keep it clean so I can reuse it.

See the two hiding in the corner?

I ran out of sticks so I just made these two into cake truffles. To do this, drop one ball at a time into the chocolate and lift out with a fork, tapping off the excess chocolate. Place on wax paper to set.

This video illustrates the dipping process. Forgive my PJ’s–I made these first thing in the morning. OK, it was afternoon. I’m lazy on Saturdays. And every other day. Once the chocolate has set, put a cello bag over the top and tie the neck with some curling string and tie into a bow or curl.

I found these at Wal-Mart in the cake decorating section near the wedding supplies

Recipe Source: based on Bakerella’s recipe & instructions

*Update 1/19/12: I have disabled comments on this post, since there are over 400 and many of them are the same questions asked and answered over and over again. If you have a question, please refer to the FAQ. Thank you!*

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Posted in Cake & Frosting, Candy, Videos and tagged balls, cake, how to, pops, recipe, suckers, truffles, tutorial. Bookmark the permalink.

LAURA DON’T READ THIS BLOG!

Posted on December 2, 2009 by Veronica

When my friend, Laura, an Oreo-cookie fanatic, saw my picture of these Oreo truffles, she told me, “Please, please don’t give me the recipe. They’d be my new Rolo crack.”

Rolo Turtles (aka “Rolo crack” among certain circles) is so delicious that it is absolutely irresistable and has caused weight gain in those who were foolish enough to make it, including Laura herself (the one who gave us the big idea in the first place)!

Hence the blog title. Yes, I’m well aware that it will most likely not deter her, but I can’t be held responsible–I did my best. After all, I couldn’t deprive my other friends of this recipe for her benefit. (Sorry, Laura!)
Now, onto the truffles!

The middles of these truffles are black, soft, and taste just like an Oreo cookie. If you have a food processor, they’re a snap to prepare. In fact, they’re the easiest truffles I’ve ever dipped in chocolate, because I didn’t have to refrigerate them first (they don’t melt when dipped in warm chocolate), which means the chocolate cooled much slower and I didn’t have to keep zapping it in the microwave. None of the filling melted off into the chocolate when I dunked them, and the chocolate slid off the truffles effortlessly, making a perfect, smooth, thin coating. I really deplore dipping truffles and usually just roll them in cocoa, but if I must dip, I would love it if the job were this easy every time.

Whip up a batch and take them to your next party or package them up as a gift–I guarantee they’ll be a hit!

Oreo Truffles

1 package (1 lb. 2 oz) Oreo cookies
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
6 squares chocolate almond bark
1 square white almond bark (optional)

*It is OK to eat several of the cookies before you crush them. If you use the whole package, you will be left with over a cup of extra crushed cookies once you’re done making the truffles.

Put the cookies in the bowl of your food processor and process until very finely crushed. Measure out 3 cups of the crumbs and put them in a mixing bowl. Set the remaining crumbs aside for later. Add the cream cheese and mush it all up with your hands until it is a soft dough and is uniform in texture.

Form the mixture into balls, rolling until smooth, and place on a plate. Set a long piece of wax paper on a work surface, such as your counter.

Melt the chocolate almond bark according to package directions and dip each truffle in the chocolate with a fork. Tap the excess chocolate off and use a second fork to push the coated truffle onto the waxed paper. Sprinkle cookie crumbs onto the chocolate while it is still wet. Continue until all the truffles are coated, leaving half uncovered if you wish.

If you choose, you can melt the white almond bark and, using a fork or pastry bag, drizzle it over the truffles without crumbs on top.

Mine were OK at room temp for several days, but to be safe, I’d recommend storing them in the fridge if you aren’t going to serve them within 24 hours.

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Black & White Truffles

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Veronica

Today I tried to make a white chocolate buttercream based on my own recipe for chocolate buttercream which is just equal amounts of chocolate and butter and nothing else. I have no idea whether this would actually work, because I made so many mistakes in making this simple buttercream (one I’ve made a hundred times with regular chocolate) that to actually describe them would be tedious. Let’s just suffice it to say that I tried to fix it by microwaving the mixture after blending it and when the white chocolate and butter separated and refused to go back together, I tried to fix it again by adding powdered sugar. I ended up with a thick sort of dough that obviously would not work for my purposes.

Feeling the velvety texture with my spatula as I mixed it, I thought the soft dough might make a nice truffle center. So I tasted it. That settled the matter. What was once the beginnings of a white chocolate buttercream had suddenly transformed into the beginnings of white chocolate truffles.

I rolled the dough into small balls and froze them to harden them up for easier handling.

I went the easy route and dipped them in almond bark. (Dark chocolate would contrast nicely with the sweet center, but I didn’t want to go out and buy it.) Then I melted some white almond bark in a disposable pastry bag* and drizzled it over the top of the truffles to pretty them up.

While I was zigging and zagging, I thought, “Hmmmm….these would make great gifts!” And I haven’t bought anything for mother’s day yet. So I boxed them up and now they’re in the fridge, ready to give to my Mom and mother-in-law on Sunday. They don’t have to know that their gifts started out as a disaster!

Black & White Truffles
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
dark & white chocolate for dipping & decorating

Melt the chocolate chips and butter together in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between. Beat in the powdered sugar. Roll the dough into balls and freeze until hard, about 10 minutes. Dip in dark chocolate (you can mix a little shortening, butter or parafin with it to make it shiny) and then decorate with white chocolate.

*You can buy disposable plastic pastry bags at Walmart on the cake decorating aisle. I get a pack of 50 and I think it’s less than $10. They’re awesome b/c you can stick chocolate in the bag, microwave it, then snip the end and squirt the chocolate out to decorate with. You can also use them for drizzling anything, like frosting or glaze.