Extraordinary Gifts - Handmade Chocolate Truffles

Extraordinary Gifts - Handmade Chocolate Truffles

These truffles are insanely simple and stunningly beautiful.  It is nearly a shame to give away the secret of such an impressive and inexpensive gift.  Your domestic tool box will thank you for this recipe and technique.  

Supplies and Ingredients: 

• Container for gifting*
• Small muffin liners
• Coffee filters
• One bag chocolate chips (semi-sweet or darker)
• One can sweetened condensed milk
• EO, nut butter or powdered coffee for flavoring
• Ground nuts, sugars, cocoa, crushed candies or powdered sugar to coatings
• heavy bottomed pot or double boiler
• Sturdy spoons
• Rubber scraper

Directions:

1. Decide on your flavors. Plain, peppermint, orange, mocha, almond or peanut butter are all good choices. Decide on the unique coating for each flavor.  The above box contained 4 flavors: Peppermint, peanut, plain and orange. The coatings were (in order of flavor): crushed peppermint candies, ground peanuts, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar with orange peel. 
2. Prepare the coatings, placing each one in a small bowl of its own.
3. Set the small muffin liners on a plate ready to receive the candies as they are completed.
4. In a heavy bottomed sauce pan or double boiler, melt chocolate chips and condensed milk on very low heat. 
5. Stir continuously to combine. Once velvety and smooth. Remove from heat.
6. Set out an equal number of bowls for the flavors you would like to make. 4 flavors = 4 bowls. Divide the liquid truffle as evenly as you can among the bowls. 
7. Stir the flavoring into each bowl while it is still really warm. 
8. Set the bowls into the refrigerator to begin to cool and set up.  The truffle needs to set up enough that it can be rolled into a ball comfortably but not too cold or it cannot be scooped. 
9. When the desired rolling temperature is reached, scoop a table spoon sized amount of the mixture and roll into a ball using the palm of your hands.  Immediately drop into truffle ball into its coating and roll it around pressing down if necessary to adhere the coating to the truffle. 
10. Place the truffle into its own individual muffin liner. Continue rolling and coating truffles until each flavor is completed. (If you need to stop the project before you have rolled all the truffles, fret not.  Cover all the remaining truffle and place in the refrigerator. Cover your coating and store out of the way.  To pick up the project again, leave the truffle on the counter at room temperature until it is pliable.  Roll and coat as before.)
11. Store truffles in the refrigerator until it is time to pack the gift. 
12. To pack a gift, prepare your gift container by lining the bottom with a coffee filter. Add the first layer of truffles.  If there is going to be additional layers, place a coffee filter between each layer. The coffee filter provides just enough stability to balance the truffles so they don't shift or tip too much. Cover the last layer with a coffee filter and place the lid on the container. 
13. Take a picture of your gift.  You have just hand crafted a beautiful box of chocolates.  This occasion deserves a picture. Please don't be afraid to share it with us.  We'd love to see your handiwork. :) 

*Bloggers Note:  Containers for gifting. I purchased these boxes seen above from the Dollar General. These were $1.50 each. Typically, I would not have purchased a container but reclaimed one for this purpose. I collect small boxes from other shipments all year. I store them in a hall closet.  I prepare a reclaimed box for candy by wrapping it inside and out with something clean and pretty. Even aluminum foil or brown lunch sacks can be pretty coverings for a box. If you are reclaiming a jar as your candy container, perhaps a coffee filter is too big.  A large muffin liner might be a better choice. If the lid of your jar has an advertisement and distracts from the gift, cover the lid with aluminum foil, pretty stickers, or a circle of wrapping paper taped to the lid.