I make these every year for Christmas, and they’re always a huge hit. Everyone is surprised that they’re homemade, and usually follow up the stunned look by asking for the recipe.
Now, this recipe is just a basic recipe for chocolate truffles. But it’s super flexible. Using orange extract instead of vanilla makes amazing orange truffles with a completely different flavor. You can use milk or dark chocolate, whichever you prefer. You can turn this into the perfect chocolate truffle recipe for you! See the tips section for more ideas, or this article on making chocolate truffles.
One little note though — this chocolate truffle recipe can’t magically transform regular chocolate into gourmet chocolate. If you use plain old chocolate chips from the grocery store, that’s what the truffles will taste like. So it’s worth putting in a few extra dollars for better chocolate. You’ll still get very thrifty chocolate truffles.
Chocolate Truffles
Preparation Time: 20m Cooking Time: 10m Total Time: 30m
Servings
Yields 30 truffles.
Ingredients
2 cups high quality chocolate chips
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over medium low heat, combine the chocolate chips and cream. Melt the chocolate, stirring constantly, until the mixture is smooth and well-blended.
- Remove the chocolate from the heat, and stir in the vanilla.
- Pour the truffle mixture into a small bowl and refrigerate for about an hour or two. The chocolate should be firm enough to hold together and not melt when you handle it, but soft enough to scoop out with a spoon.
- Shape the chocolate mixture into little balls.
Tips
- Chocolate chips are ideal for melting because they’re small and uniformly sized. But you can also use chocolate squares and chop them up into chip-sized bits. If you do, you’ll need 12oz of chocolate.
- Wondering whether to use milk, semi-sweet or dark chocolate? Use whichever you like. The only thing that matters is what you prefer. For example, I like a sweet chocolate for my vanilla truffles, but I prefer a darker chocolate with orange truffles.
- You can add more or less cream depending on what kind of texture you like. More cream gives you a softer, creamier texture — which is nice if you’re planning on dipping the truffles in chocolate.
- Instead of vanilla, there are lots of different flavorings you can add. Try orange extract with a bit of orange zest, peppermint extract, or almond extract with some praline powder. You can even add different liqueurs.
- You can add more or less vanilla, to suit your taste. The flavors will intensify a bit as the chocolate cools, so keep that in mind if you’re tasting while the chocolate is still warm.
- You can also add extra flavoring to the truffles. After adding the flavoring, taste the chocolate. If it’s not flavorful enough, add a bit more vanilla or liqueur or whatever you’re using, until it tastes just right.
- Technically, this chocolate truffle recipe just makes the truffle filling (called a ganache). To coat the truffles, you have a few options.
- The traditional way to do it is just to roll them in cocoa. That way they look like real truffles out of the ground.
- You can also roll the chocolate truffles in some confectioners’ sugar, chopped nuts, grated coconut, or candy sprinkles.
- I like to coat my truffles with melted chocolate that hardens to a shiny finish. If you do coat the truffles though, it’ll add a bit to the preparation time, so be ready! For more information on how to do it, check out this article on tempering chocolate.