Cheap and easy homemade truffles

Having a sweet tooth is something that runs through the women in my family. Lately, I've been craving sweet treats, but as you all know by now, I'm not very big on things that take a long time or cost a lot of money. I came across a recipe for these a few weeks ago, and put my own twist on them, as I always do with just about everything from styles, to crafts to recipes. We're all out own people, why wouldn't we? Well, I sure twisted up a winner here, and you guys need to try these.



For approximately 20 truffles, you will need:
- 2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips in a medium bowl
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream (less is more in this recipe - don't go over a cup or your truffles will be too runny/soft)
- 'toppings' to roll your truffles in - we used what we could find in the pantry which was salty roasted almonds (which I chopped), cocoa (which I mixed with a little bit of powdered sugar so it wouldn't be too bitter), and my daughter's choice of sprinkles (hard chocolate shell would probably work, too, and be awesome - wish we'd had some of that!)
- wax paper
- a melon baller or a spoon/metal teaspoon (if you use a regular spoon you'll just have to be a little more hands on with making the chocolate into balls - this can be hard as it will begin to melt against warm fingers, but doable)
- optional: a cup of hot water to dip your baller or metal teaspoon in between scoops. This helps if your chocolate is a little too hard, and to ball them perfectly. I found that I still had to do a bit of shaping and with the water, you also have to dry the baller after dipping it into the water, which means you also need a rag which will get really chocolatey. It's really about preference and options. :)

*You don't have to roll these in anything. We left a few of them bare, and they were just as delicious as the others!*



Getting the delicious deed done:
1. Bring your heavy whipping cream to a boil. I feel like getting this too hot is a bad idea, so only bring it to a boil. When it begins to boil, immediately remove it from heat and pour it over the chocolate chips in a medium bowl. They will begin to melt right away. Stir the chocolate until it's all melted and well blended, but don't over stir.

2. Refrigerate your chocolate for at least four hours. We left ours in overnight and it wasn't too hard the next day when we were ready to use it. We did dip the melon baller in hot water first and that might have been helpful, though the chocolate is soft, so it may not make a huge difference.

3. When you're ready to make your truffles, get your toppings ready if you plan to use any. As you make each truffle, which should be about the size of a rounded tea spoon, you can place them on wax paper right away and refrigerate again before rolling in toppings (that way they aren't too soft) or you can roll them immediately into your toppings and place on wax. I rolled them immediately and noticed that after 8 or so, I had to stop, put all chocolate in the fridge and let everything cool again. So it would be more time efficient to ball all of them out on the wax paper, refrigerate and then roll in desired toppings. They soften quickly so they'll need to stay in the fridge while you aren't eating them, which  may not be ever, considering they're soooo good!

*As far as chocolate shell: I haven't tried this, but I'd love to. I don't think using a shell that has to be warmed is a good idea. The truffles will melt and not stay in a ball if you dip them into something warm. I've seen little bottles of shell 'sauce' at my local grocery store that look just like chocolate syrup and they don't have to be heated to use. I would use something like that. And how wonderful would a truffle be that's hard chocolate on the outside and gooey and soft on the inside? Or even a truffle rolled in crushed almonds and then given a chocolate coating? Why don't I have any shell in my supplies!?*

Easy enough for the little ones to help out, too!

The truffles on the plate were made by this sweet thang right here.

She chose all sprinkles, and they were just as delicious.

Easy peasy. :)

My husband wasn't so sure how good these would be without good expensive chocolate, and just chocolate chips, but he loves them. They aren't too sweet and they don't taste like cheap milk chocolate either. Plus, he didn't have to spend a lot to make these. :P Everybody wins! 

Enjoy!