Chocolate truffles are God’s gift to humankind I think.  I am sort of picky about the chocolate I like.  For instance, I do not like any chocolate ice cream (really, I don’t like any ice cream), chocolate milk, or hot chocolate.  When I see truffles, though, I am willing to pass through fire (except that it would melt the chocolate) to get to them. 

We have a local chocolatier family in Charleston, the Holls.  They own Holl’s Chocolates and make some really great truffles and chocolate goodness.  As much as I love their confections, I can’t really afford to eat their stuff as much as I would like.

Of course, that means it is time to improvise.  I have found a few recipes for homemade truffles that are really pretty amazing and simple to make.  I doubt I will be putting Holl’s out of business, but it surely satisfies my need to be cheap and well-chocolated.  Here is a recipe that we discovered in a flier sent out by Kroger.

Peanut Butter Truffles

1 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

24 oz. melted chocolate chips (we used semi-sweet though milk chocolate would be good too)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional – for rolling)

1/4 cup cocoa (optional – for rolling)

1/2 cup ground peanuts (optional – for rolling)

Heat Cream with peanut butter in a saucepan.  Whisk together as peanut butter melts.  Meanwhile, melt chocolate in a double boiler (or microwave as I did).  Combine peanut butter mixture with melted chocolate.  Add vanilla and place in refrigerator to set (recipe says 10 minutes, I say 3 hours).  Once set, scoop truffles with a melon baller (or use a spoon and ball them in your hand) and roll in powdered sugar, cocoa, peanuts (or nothing as we did).  Return to refrigerator and let them set again.  Keep chilled until you serve them.

I don’t really know how many truffles this recipe makes because I ate a ton of the mixture as it was setting.  I also made Shrek-sized truffles, much larger than a typical candy.  One is basically a meal in itself!

I only make truffles in November and December for some reason but we’ll make a bunch of them and add to our hibernation weight!  There are lots of other recipes out there and all are similar and simple.  This is the time of year for experimenting!