Welcome to Day 2 of Homemade Holiday Gifts Week!
Today I’m sharing a rich, velvety smooth, dark, creamy, intensely chocolatey truffle recipe with you. One that will hopefully make it into little boxes or bags as special treats for the people in your life who are utterly in love with chocolate. Like me.
So turn on your favorite holiday music, light a few candles, pour yourself a festive drink, and let’s get started!
This recipe is made with just 5 ingredients, simple methods, and only about 30 minutes of hands-on time.
To make these truffles, you’ll need:
Dark Chocolate. I used an entire Trader Joe’s 72% Dark Pound Plus Bar, minus 4 squares to make it an even pound of chocolate. The darker the better, in my opinion, but if you wanted to make these on the less-intense side, you could certainly use a semi-sweet chocolate (something around 50% cacao).
Coconut Milk. Canned, full-fat coconut milk makes these truffles rich and creamy, and ensures that everyone you know can eat these truffles, regardless of their dietary preferences or dairy allergies. And, in case you were curious: there is no coconut flavor in these truffles!
A little bit of Vanilla, Cinnamon, and Salt. The combination of these three add-ins with the dark chocolate and coconut milk makes for the most flavorful truffles, ever. You wouldn’t bite into a truffle and immediately detect the flavor of any of them, but when combined they take the truffles to a whole other level.
Heat the milk, pour it over the chopped chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt, stir until creamy and dreamy, then let harden in the fridge for about an hour (or up to several days).
Scoop into truffles (I like using this mini cookie scoop), roll into whatever toppings you love (cocoa powder, powdered sugar, hemp seeds, cacao nibs, crushed candy canes, crushed pretzel bits, shredded coconut etc), then package them up!
These dark, rich truffles would make the perfect gift for all the chocolate lovers in your life. Nestle a few of them into a little parchment or tissue paper lined box, or drop a few into a cellophane bag with a ribbon and leave them on your coworker’s desks, in your family’s stockings, or tuck them into gift bags and hand them out to friends you know and everyone you meet.
There’s just something about making truffles that makes the whole house feel like it’s the Holiday season. So put on an oversized sweater, stick your N*SYNC Christmas CD into the stereo (or, um listen to it on YouTube since it’s 2017), and make some truffles like it’s 1998.
Stay tuned this week for five more brand new Homemade Gift Ideas, as well as my roundup of homemade gift ideas on Monday December 18th!
As always, if you make this recipe, let me know how it turns out! Leave a comment below, or take a picture and tag me on Instagram so I can see all your holiday baking in action!
Dark Chocolate Truffles
Ingredients
- 16 ounces dark chocolate preferably 70% or higher*
- 1 cup full fat canned coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- 1. Roughly chop the dark chocolate and put it in a medium-sized glass bowl (or other heat proof vessel).
- 2. Put the coconut milk in a small pot on the stove over medium-high heat. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until milk is steaming/slightly simmering, but not boiling. Alternately, you can microwave it for about 60 seconds, or until steaming.
- 3. Pour the hot milk over the chopped chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes. Then, add vanilla, cinnamon, and salt, and stir until velvety and smooth.
- 4. Let chocolate mixture cool at room temperature until no longer hot (about 15 minutes), then transfer to the fridge, uncovered, for at least an hour but up to 5 days before you want to make them.
- 5. When ready to make truffles, remove from the fridge and scoop into 1-Tablespoon sized balls. If your truffle mixture has been in the fridge for more than an hour, it may be very firm. Let it sit at room temperature to soften until scoopable; alternately, if your mixture seems too soft to scoop, let it chill for another 15+ minutes before scooping.
- 6. Roll the truffles between the palms of your hands to form relatively smooth balls, then drop each ball into cocoa powder to coat. If desired, you can also roll them in hemp seeds, cacao nibs, a mix of powdered sugar + cinnamon, coconut, etc. Truffles can also be dipped in melted chocolate, if desired.
- 7. If gifting these right away, keep at room temperature and wrap them up in small boxes or bags. If saving them to serve at a holiday party, store in the fridge until about an hour before you're ready to eat them, then take them out to let them soften to room temperature.
- 8. Since there is no dairy in these truffles, they should be safe to keep at room temperature for up to two weeks. It's possible that they last longer, but that's the longest it's ever taken me to eat a batch of them. If you're worried, feel free to store them in the fridge and pull out just before serving.
Notes
Truffles, faster: Pour the truffle mixture into a parchment lined loaf pan, chill until solid, and cut into 32 small squares. Dunk them all in cocoa powder, and serve. They aren't the usual round truffle shape, but taste just as good!