For the past couple of years, I’ve had to find ways to give fancy Christmas gifts on a completely non-fancy budget. One of the easiest and most economical ways to do this is to give homemade treats as gifts. You can make them in large batches and gift them 3-4 or twenty at a time — just put them in a festive tin or box (hello, Dollar Tree!) and tie a ribbon around with a tag. Voila! Delicious, adorable, and homemade.
These truffles are perfect homemade gifts — they’re easy to make and even easier to package. Plus, they look (and taste!) fancy.
Recipe | Chocolate Truffles
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 packages (8 squares each) Baker’s Semi-Sweet Semi-Sweet Chocolate (20 squares total), unwrapped
- 1 package (8 ounces) Cream Cheese, softened*
- Decorations: chopped hazelnuts, colored sprinkles, powdered sugar… Get CREATIVE!
*Hint: To soften cream cheese, place unwrapped package in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on HIGH 10 seconds. Add 15 seconds for each additional package of cream cheese.
Instructions
Melt 8 of the chocolate squares in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently to keep chocolate from burning.
Beat softened cream cheese in a medium-size bowl with a hand mixer until creamy. Add melted chocolate and stir to mix well.
Refrigerate until firm, 1-2 hours.
Once the cream cheese mixture is firm enough, roll into balls using your hands and place onto a wax paper-lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate while you melt the dipping chocolate.
Melt remaining chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently. Use a fork to dip truffles into chocolate, rolling for even coverage. Return them to the wax paper, where you can decorate them with sprinkles, chopped nuts, or powdered sugar.
Refrigerate for another hour. Place truffles in little paper dessert cups and store in a tightly-covered container in the refrigerator.
If you’re feeling extra-fancy, you can make these more interesting by adding a few different flavors –
Peppermint Chocolate Truffles - Add 1-2 teaspoons peppermint extract to the cream cheese mixture before refrigerating.
*I added 1 teaspoon to a half-batch, and it was PERFECTION. So for a full batch, I recommend two teaspoons!
Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles - During the first step, use only 3 chocolate squares and about half a 13-ounce jar of Nutella. Melt the chocolate over low heat, remove from heat, then mix in the Nutella in the saucepan. (You don’t want to actually melt the Nutella, because it becomes too liquid. Mixing it with melted chocolate will soften it just enough so it’s easily mixable!) Stir into the cream cheese and proceed as above. Roll finished truffles in finely-chopped hazelnuts.
This sounds amazing.
Everything about this post is awesome to me. I’m going to try it. Like, tonight.
I’M SO HAPPY YOU USED NUTELLA.
Thanks! It was a total experiment and it turned out really well. My advice when it comes to Nutella is this: Always use more than you think you need. You won’t regret it.
And this is why I gain weight at Christmas. Those look amazing!
[...] all of my time making/baking/eating treats and delicious foods, and I kicked off the season with homemade truffles. Also on the list this season? Gingerbread men, sugar cookies, homemade Chex mix, something fancy [...]
This is my kind of blog – insightful and well written. Thanks for posting.