DIY Chocolate truffles 3 ways

So back in the day I used to make chocolates, and sell them, and supply the odd wedding with them as favours. It was fun but I got really sick of making chocolates. To this day, people ask about them and since I finally have my chocolate-making mojo back I thought I'd share.

Here are 3 flavours that I've been making for Christmas events and gifts lately.

There's a reason this is not a baking blog - I tend to bake by eye rather than following a strict recipe. So instead of giving exact quantities, I'll try to briefly describe the method below each one!

 

These peppermint cremes have fresh mint leaves in the filling - I got the idea from Chelsea Winter's peppermint slice recipe, and it tastes SO GOOD. The husband says "it looks like sour cream and chives" when he sees the tiny flecks of mint in the mixture, but everyone votes 300% for them including me. Mmmmm so delicious.

For the filling, the ingredients should be mixed to a smooth paste - sticky and not too firm, but not as runny as icing. You should be able to shape it into sloppy balls. Then freeze the balls to firm them up before re-rolling into perfect balls and dipping in the melted chocolate with your swizel stick, and tipping out onto a sheet of baking paper.

I topped mine with slices of green gummy lollies (cut with kitchen scissors).

When the chocolate sets, it contains the soft minty filling.

I wanted a chocolate that was christmassy in taste and appearance, so put a few spices into the filling (cinnamon and cardamom). BUT this is also the best base recipe for any truffle. I made some today with no spices, and just a few grains of rock salt on top of each one. So good!

For the filling, ratio the chocolate to cream at 2:1.

E.g 200gm chocolate, 100gm cream.

Melt them together and mix, then leave in fridge to set in the bowl before scooping and shaping into balls. I freeze them to make dipping in the coating easier.

 I feel like this combo is still considered *So American* by New Zealanders as eating cookie dough isn't really the done thing here.  But"Ewwwwwwwww" said no-one ever when confronted with raw cookie dough. This dough is eggless and I just add a bit of cream to make it softer and more truffley. You can use any basic cookie dough as a base.

These all look sweet when packaged in a bag and tied with string - happy gifting!

And by gifting I mean one-for-me-one-for-you pop-it-in-your-gob because you have to eat every single truffle that is slightly misshapen or less than perfectly spherical or that has too much chocolate on it because it's the rules. So really, happy eating!