I received the loveliest holiday gift yesterday from a good friend of mine. She knows how much my husband and I enjoy her fabulous smoked paprika-rubbed roast chicken so she typed up and printed out the recipe on a nice card (complete with cute little seahorse cutouts) and attached it with ribbon to a jar of the key ingredient, Spanish pimentón. It was simple, incredibly thoughtful and edible – the perfect type of gift, I think.
I love to give edible gifts year round, but especially during the holidays. I’ve been packaging up the goodies from this week’s Homemade Candy Week into little red and gold tins (see pictured above) I found at the Container Store and gifting them to friends as I see them. While I didn’t make too many extra of the Pecan & Caramel Chocolate Clusters, today’s Milk Chocolate Truffles recipe made plenty for me to enjoy a little “one for me” as I pull together a few of these tins each day. The best part about a basic truffle recipe like this is that you can customize it however you like – rolling them in nuts, adding spices, drizzling more chocolate. I kept mine super simple, with just a dusting of unsweetened cocoa.
Milk Chocolate Truffles
From the Ghirardelli Creamy Milk Chocolate Truffles recipe inside the Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Baking Bar wrapper
Yields 30 truffles
INGREDIENTS:
8 oz. milk chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter, chopped into small pieces
Coating:
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa or 3/4 cup finely chopped almonds or pecans
DIRECTIONS:
Bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Add butter and stir until melted. Add chocolate to saucepan. Stir until completely melted and smooth.
Remove from heat and pour the chocolate mixture into a shallow bowl. Cool, cover and refrigerate until firm, at least two hours.
Roll mixture into 1″ balls. Roll each ball in coating.
The holidays aren’t complete without truffles. Yum!
what i wouldnt give for a tin of those :p
Dani, if you were local I’d totally drop some by! 🙂
I love truffles but for some reason I have yet to make them.
This could be your year, Mackenzie! 🙂
I love how easy chocolate truffles are to make and that you can coat them so many different ways. I like to dip mine in milk chocolate instead of rolling them in cocoa powder for a double chocolate truffle!
what i wouldnt give for a tin of those :p
I currently have these in the fridge, it’s been over two hours, but it’s still a little too soft. Hopefully they turn out! :X
I hope so too! They have a very smooth texture when you bite into them, but they should definitely be firm enough to maintain their round shape. If all else fails, they’ll at least still taste good. 🙂
They look great – how do you get them so nice and round? Mine always come out somewhat misshapen!
Have you tried Ghirardelli’s Sinful Chocolate Truffles? They’re fantastic and are made with bittersweet chocolate.
I just rolled them in the palm of my hand. 🙂