every christmastime i endeavor the task of making holiday treats for patrick's bosses and coworkers, and if there is enough left over the treats then head to my neighbors, landlord, and family. each year i have made chocolate truffles, a simple and easy, and way more inexpensive than godiva, delight. whenever patrick comes home after giving the gifts, he tells me how everyone ate them right away at their desks. these truffles are quite rich, and even i, a sever chocoholic, have a difficult time eating more than one at a time. yet, i cannot judge, and they do love them.
this year my chocolate truffles include: raspberry almond, mint chocolate, and caramel with ginger.
to make the delectable treats simply make a chocolate ganache out of:
1 stick of butter
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1 (12 oz) bag of chocolate chips (i buy ghirardelli 60% cacao for an extra indulgence).
melt the butter and stir in cream over medium low heat until the mixture begins to simmer. remove from heat and stir in the chocolate chips. the heat from the pan helps to melt the chocolate, so don't pour the butter and cream mixture over the chips in another bowl. that will be a waste of your time. to add flavor i add 1/4 cup of alcohol of my choice. so for the raspberry truffles i added chambord and then 1 tsp of almond extract. for non-alcoholic chocolates just add in flavored extract and that will taste yummy too. after freezing the ganache for about an hour, take a small ice cream scoop (the size used to scoop out cookie dough) and make chocolate balls. then roll them in anything you want! i rolled the raspberry almond ones in almonds and drizzled them with white chocolate. yummy! feel free to use any candy or nut or cocoa powder of your choice. for the caramel ginger truffles, i am rolling those in ginger scented sugar. each batch yields about 30 truffles, and it can be a bit time consuming. however, the results are divine and sure to please the chocolate enthusiasts you may know!
i still have to finish my mint chocolate and caramel ginger batches before vacation. i will try to get pics up to show you how beautiful they are! check out more recipes at the williams sonoma website, which is where i got my ganache recipe from. thanks williams-sonoma!
this is beth signing off.
mission: 1/3 of the way accomplished!
I can attest at how amazing these things taste! They literally melt in your mouth.
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