Truffles is one of my favorite no bake dessert, they’re bite size, decadent and great for gifting. It requires no baking at all but more patience waiting for it to harden. It’s a no bake pure chocolate indulgent dessert, so eat with caution and do not finish more than you can handle in own seating. Eat in moderation to enjoy every bite of this treat Pistachio and Cranberry White Chocolate Truffles.

I had a not so good experience making my first truffles and I had never made it again since then. The truffles I made was an Oreo White Chocolate Truffles which turned out to be too sweet even for someone like me who love sweets. It has been several years now and I’ve never tried making Truffles again, although it has always been on my mind. I thought I should give it a try again hoping to replace that bad memory for a memorable delicious one.  

What is Chocolate Truffles?

Truffle is a type of chocolate confectionery (candy dessert) usually made with chocolate ganache and coated with chocolate, cocoa powder, nuts, or coconuts. The chocolate is melted with heavy cream and left to harden for easy rolling and shaping. It is a pure chocolate indulgent confectionery dessert that do not require baking. Because this tends to be a very decadent pure chocolate dessert, they usually come is small bite size pieces, shape like a ball. The name ‘truffles’ is derived from the edible fungi ‘Truffles’ .

Tips in Making Chocolate Truffles

Making Chocolate Truffles is one of the easiest delicious treat that you can make. Even with the simplicity of process and ingredients, it is worth remembering these few tips to achieve a smooth, creamy, calorie worthy chocolate truffles.

1. Use the Right Chocolate and use a good quality that you would love to enjoy eating on it’s own. 50% (and sometimes more) of the chocolate truffle is chocolate ganache which is basically cream and melted chocolate. Having said this, spending few more dollars to get a good quality chocolate is worth it, and in my opinion, is a MUST. Avoid chocolate chips that can have hardening agents. Reserve your chips for making Chocolate Chip Cookie. Look for high quality chocolate 60 – 70% range baking bar chocolate. You can find it in baking aisle, usually mark as Baking chocolate. Chocolate truffles are pure chocolate, so for me a little bitterness is nice, but not too much. You can use milk, dark or white chocolate to make Chocolate Truffles, but you have to take in consideration that semi sweet and white chocolate will be sweeter in taste. When using either of this, it is good to add salt, chopped nuts or chopped dried fruits to lessen the sweetness.
2. Chopped the Chocolate as Fine as Possible, this is a MUST to achieve a smooth texture. Finely chopped chocolate also melts faster when mix with warm cream
3. Warm the Cream, do NOT bring it to a boil. You can warm it up in microwave or on stove top. It should be warm to the touch, it shouldn’t burn your skin. If you warm it on stove top, you should see bubbles from the side and a steam coming out, but not boiling. Too cold and it will not melt the chocolate resulting to clump chocolate. Too hot and it will scald/burn the cream.
4. Chill It, you cannot rush the process. You MUST chill the chocolate ganache to give it enough time to harden and for easy shaping. I personally prefer leaving it on the counter overnight rather than putting it in the fridge. Letting it set on the counter produces smooth texture that is easy to scoop and shape. When you refrigerate it and you forget to take it out, you will end up with a solid hard ganache that is difficult o scoop.
5. Coat It – You can serve it as is, but coating it with cocoa powder, shredded coconuts or chopped nuts make the chocolate truffle even more enjoyable to it. More than that, the layer of coating protects the truffles from bumps, bruises, and moisture in the fridge.

Ingredients for White Chocolate Pistachio and Cranberry Truffles

• White Chocolate Chips – Use good quality white chocolate. Look for the bar baking chocolate in the baking section aisle. I used Bakers Baking Chocolate.
• Heavy Cream – the higher the fat content, the better. I used Heavy whipping cream 35%. Do not use half and half or regular milk as the truffle will not set properly. You need the fat to make it set properly.
• Salt – this is very important as white chocolate is sweet. You need something to balance it
• Pure vanilla Extract enhances the flavor of the truffles, even more because we are using white chocolate here. You do not have to, but if you have it, use it
• Butter – Adds shine and help melt the ganache smoothly
• Pistachio – finely chop the Pistachio. You can substitute it with Almonds or Pecan but I find that Pistachio works best with dried Cranberry
• Almond Flour – This acts as a binder since white chocolate is a lot liquidy when melted. Also, since we are not baking this truffles, we do not want to use raw flour. Almond flour is ok because it is basically ground Almond white is ok to consume without baking, plus this is a small amount only.
• Dried Cranberry – This balances the sweetness of the white chocolate, plus it complements the Pistachio. It also gives a nice festive holiday look to the truffles.

You can use rubber hand gloves but if you do not have one, you can individually portion them, arrange it on lined cookie sheet and chill it for about 20 -30 minutes. This will dry out the surface a bit and will make the shaping easier.

Can I use Semi Sweet or Dark Chocolate Instead?

Yes, you can. The amount of cream will vary depending if you are using milk, dark of white chocolate. For milk or dark chocolate, Use 1/3 cup of heavy cream for every 4 ounces of chopped chocolate. Milk chocolate require less cream as it is softer and more liquidy when melted.

Storage

Store truffles in the fridge for up to two weeks. Bring them to room temperature before serving. If making a large batch, use a large container to store the chocolate truffle and put a layer of parchment paper on top before adding the rest of the truffles. Please note that although it can be stored in the refrigerator, keeping it too long there could alter the taste as the days go by. The chocolate will start to form ‘sweats’ thus building moisture on the surface making it sticky. As long as you do not store them longer than 1-2 weeks, it should still be in good condition that is enjoyable to eat. Leave at room temperature min 4 hours

Sweeter usual chocolate truffles

I thought I should give you a head-up. This white chocolate truffles are sweeter than the usual chocolate truffles. This is because white chocolate to begin with as sweeter than semi-sweet and dark chocolate. Use a white chocolate the you love to eat on its own, that can enjoy it better. There is no additional sugar or sweetener in this recipe, the sweetness will come from the chocolate itself. So choose your chocolate wisely, spending a bit for a good quality chocolate that you enjoy to eat goes a long way when it comes to using it to make truffles.

Ingredients:

• 127g White Chocolate – finely chopped (Use pure chocolate, the kind sold in 4 ounce bars in the baking aisle, NOT chocolate chips)
• 1 tablespoon salted Butter
• 3 tablespoon Heavy Cream
• 1/2 teaspoon pure Vanilla Extract (can be substituted with Almond extract, mint,
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 3 tablespoon Pistachio – chopped
• 1 tablespoon Almond Flour 
• 3 tablespoon Dried Cranberry – chopped
• 1/2 cup Melting/Dipping Chocolate

Instructions:

1. Toast the Pistachio: Remove the shell of the Pistachio and transfer it on a tray. Toast for 5 – 10 minutes or until fragrant. Let cool then chop into small pieces.
2. Warm the Cream: Microwave the cream for 20 -30 seconds.
3. Melt the White Chocolate:In a microwave safe bowl, transfer the white chocolate, butter, salt and vanilla extract. Pour the warm cream, cover and let sit for 10 minutes without touching. Remove the cover and gently stir the mixture. If you can still see lumps of white chocolate, pop the bowl in the microwave and microwave for 30 seconds. White chocolate tends to burn easily, so it is best to stop even still few chucks left and just use the residual heat to melt the chocolate. Gently stir to distribute the heat.
4. Add Mix-In: Add the chopped Pistachio and dried Cranberry
5. Chill: Cover the bowl a with plastic wrap touching the surface of the chocolate. Let sit on the counter overnight to let the mixture solidify or chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours. Use a shallow tray or bowl for faster chilling. To test if good enough to shape, scoop a portion and roll it into a ball. It should be easy to roll without being too soft and sticky. If in case you over chill it, leave it on the counter for few minutes until you can easily scoop it.
6. Portion: Divide the mixture into 10 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Arrange in a plate while you make the white chocolate coating
7. Melt the White Chocolate, look for melting or dipping chocolate. These are the chocolate used for fondue or for dipping Strawberry. This type of chocolate is made for coating, and produces a solid coating without being sticky. You can buy this on specialty chocolate store. If you end up using chocolate chips as last resort, keep in mind that the coating will not harden as much and it will still be a bit sticky even after it dries up
8. Coat: Dip each ball in the melted white chocolate and arrange in a parchment lined baking tray.
9. Topping: Sprinkle desired toppings on top. I used more dried Cranberry and chopped Pistachios. If you end up with left-over white chocolate, you can use it to drizzle on top of the balls once the white chocolate has set.
10. Refrigerate the tray briefly, for 10 to 15 minutes, until the white coating is set.
11. Storage: Left over should be kept in an air tight container inside the fridge. This could last up to 2 weeks.
12. Serving: Take it out of the fridge 15 – 30 minutes to allow it to come to room temperature. the last thing you want is to break the teeth of your friends while biting on it 😉

Makes 10 pieces

Variation

• White chocolate truffles can be rolled in finely chopped nuts, crushed cookies, finely chopped candies, shredded coconut, finely chopped dried fruit, sprinkles, cocoa powder, confectioners’ sugar, or even colored coarse or fine sugar. Take into consideration that white chocolate is sweet as it is, so choose the coating that will not make the truffles even sweeter
• I always prefer natural color, but if you do not mind using a tint of food coloring, you can color the white chocolate to match the occasion. A tint of red to make it pink for Valentines Day, or tint of red or green for Holiday season, some pastel colors for Easter, dark green for St Patrick day.

Nutritional Information

Nutritional Information was calculated using Veryfitwell Recipe Calorie and Nutrition Calculator. For details about Nutritional Information in this website, please read the Disclaimer page.

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