Scrumptious Holiday Truffles

Every year at work we do a cookie swap along with a white elephant gift exchange. This year I decided to make dark chocoloate truffles instead of cookies and OH MY GOD, I think I will make these EVERY year for the holdays.

I found the recipe for the ganache on Ghirardelli's website and then created my own variations:

Dark Chocolate Truffles
Yield: 30 Truffles

    * 1 3/4 cup(s) 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips (I mixed bittersweet chocolate chips with semisweet chips...about a 2 to 1 ratio...and I of course bought Ghirardelli chocolate)
    * 1/3 cup(s) Unsweetened Cocoa
    * 1/3 cup(s) heavy whipping cream
    * 6 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions
In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Add the butter and stir until melted.

Gradually add in the chocolate chips.

 

Stir until completely melted and smooth.

 Remove from the heat and pour into a shallow bowl (9 x 13 pyrex dish works--I tripled the recipe so I used the largest pyrex dish I had).

Cool, cover, and refrigerate the mixture until firm, at least 2 hours.

Using a melon baller or small spoon, roll the mixture into 1-inch balls. I promise you that your hands will be covered in chocolate by the end of this and there is absolutely nothing wrong with licking your fingers.

Roll each ball in the cocoa. Enjoy immediately (trust me you will) or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Variations

Pecan Truffles
I bought a small bag of pecans, crushed them and laid them flat in a pan and toasted them at 375 degrees until fragrant. Then I rolled some of the truffles in the pecans.

Smore Truffles
Break marshmallows up into small chunks (about the size of the tip of your pinky) and crush the graham crackers into a dust. It was difficult to wrap the ganache around the marshmallow, but just keep forming the ball around the marshmallow, you will get it eventually. Then roll the ball into the bowl of graham cracker dust and voila! You have smore balls!

To make them extra special, I bought some silver candy cups from AC Moore (about $3 for 100) and cookie tins from the dollar store (they have some great ones with holiday prints).  Slap on a bow and you have a simple Christmas gift to hand out to your friends and family.