Eggnog Truffles

Last year I saw this recipe on Good Things Catered and wanted to try it as soon as it was posted. But I had already made my cookie trays and decided to put it on hold until next year. Well next year is here and I was so excited to try these. I absolutely love eggnog and truffles so how could I pass these up?

These are absolutely fabulous truffles. I was worried that the eggnog flavor wouldn't be strong enough but it totally was. It's the first flavor you taste when biting into it. And trust me, I know. I've bitten into (more than) a few of these since I made them!

These are the perfect truffles for your Holiday cookie tray as they bring all the delicious and reminiscent flavors of Christmas into a sweet little candy that no one can resist.

Ingredients
Source: Good Things Catered

14 oz. white candy melts (I used vanilla flavored)
1/3 c. eggnog (must be the full fat kind)
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
splash good bourbon (I omitted)
6 oz. dark chocolate

Directions
-In large (shallow and wide) bowl over pan of boiling water over medium low heat, combine white chocolate, eggnog, cinnamon and nutmeg.
-Stir until completely melted and smooth.
-Remove from heat, add bourbon, stir well to incorporate and place bowl in the fridge overnight (or until completely firmed, this will depend on temperature of fridge and deepness of bowl you placed mixture in)
-Remove bowl from fridge and roll tsp of truffle filling into balls.
-Place formed balls onto wax paper lined baking sheet and place in freezer.
-Meanwhile, melt dark chocolate, stirring until smooth.
-Remove truffles from freezer, roll to make sure evenness then dip into chocolate and sprinkle with decoration if using.
-Place finished truffle back onto wax paper lined baking tray and repeat with remaining truffles.
-Let stand for 1 hour or until completely dry and serve or package in airtight container for up to a week.

Yields about 50 truffles

Bailey's Irish Cream Truffles

Again, I used my "base" recipe for Chocolate Truffles but changed up the flavors a bit. This truffle was really good, but I was a little disappointed with the fact that the coffee and Bailey's weren't as strong as I would have liked. I think next time I will use instant coffee in order to achieve a higher coffee flavor. But, all in all, they were really good and I'm not giving up on this flavor just yet!

Ingredients
Adapted from Ina Garten

• 1/2 pound good bittersweet chocolate (recommended: Lindt)
• 1/2 pound good semisweet chocolate (recommended: Ghiradelli)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2-3 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream
  
• aprox. 3 tablespoons brewed coffee
  

Directions

Chop the chocolates finely with a sharp knife. Place them in a heat-proof mixing bowl.

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it just boils. Turn off the heat and allow the cream to sit for 20 seconds. Pour the cream through a fine-meshed sieve into the bowl with chocolate. With a wire whisk, slowly stir the cream and chocolates together until the chocolate is completely melted. Whisk in the Coffee and Bailey's. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.

With 2 teaspoons, spoon round balls of the chocolate mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Roll each ball of chocolate in your hands to roughly make it round. Dip in melted semi sweet chocolate over a double boiler and put on wax paper, and if desired pipe melted white chocolate tinted green over the top of the truffles. These will keep refrigerated for weeks, but serve them at room temperature.

Chocolate and Raspberry Chambord Truffles

I got the idea for this flavor combo. from none other then my own fabulous wedding cake! My awesome baker Jen, from She Takes the Cake came up with this fabulous flavor for every other layer of our cake. When we had our tasting, my husband and I just about devoured this flavor cake! Her description of this flavor (from her website) is as follows: "Chocolate Chambord Cake with blackberry infused ganache and raspberry fillings". Yeah it was awesome then, and now it's awesome in a truffle! I used my "base" recipe from Ina Garten, and the rest is as follows.

Ingredients
Adapted from Ina Garten

• 1/2 pound good bittersweet chocolate (recommended: Lindt)
• 1/2 pound good semisweet chocolate (recommended: Ghiradelli)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons Chambord
  
• 1/2 teaspoon raspberry extract

Directions

Chop the chocolates finely with a sharp knife. Place them in a heat-proof mixing bowl.

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it just boils. Turn off the heat and allow the cream to sit for 20 seconds. Pour the cream through a fine-meshed sieve into the bowl with chocolate. With a wire whisk, slowly stir the cream and chocolates together until the chocolate is completely melted. Whisk in Chambord and Raspberry extract. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.

With 2 teaspoons, spoon round balls of the chocolate mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Roll each ball of chocolate in your hands to roughly make it round. Dip in melted semi sweet chocolate over a double boiler and put on wax paper, and if desired pipe melted white chocolate tinted red over the top of the truffles. These will keep refrigerated for weeks, but serve them at room temperature.

Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles

These are always a huge hit. My husband loves them so much I have to make a batch just for him every Christmas. I love them because they look so "fancy" but are so easy to make. I usually make 1 batch per cookie tray because they are always the first to go.

Ingredients
Adapted from Ina Garten

nocoupons

• 1/2 pound good bittersweet chocolate (recommended: Lindt)
• 1/2 pound good semisweet chocolate (recommended: Ghiradelli)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons orange flavored liqueur, optional (I use Frangelico, which is hazelnut)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon good vanilla extract

Directions

-Chop the chocolates finely with a sharp knife. Place them in a heat-proof mixing bowl.

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it just boils. Turn off the heat and allow the cream to sit for 20 seconds. Pour the cream through a fine-meshed sieve into the bowl with chocolate. With a wire whisk, slowly stir the cream and chocolates together until the chocolate is completely melted. Whisk in the liqueur if using, and vanilla. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.

With your hands and/or 2 teaspoons, make round balls of the chocolate mixture and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Place them in the freezer to "set up" before coating in chocolate, just for a few minutes. Remove from freezer.

Set up a double boiler on your stove top and add about 1/2 bag of semi sweet chocolate and a few heaping spoonfulls of shortening (I use Crisco). Stir mixture and continue to stir until the mixture is very smooth and everything is completely melted. One by one, using a teaspoon, dip truffles in melted chocolate mixture until completely coated and put on a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Put tray in refridgerator for about an hour or two, until chocolate is completely hardened. Either serve as is, or drizzle with white chocolate.