Last year I made these truffles for dinner at a friend’s house and they were such a hit I thought I would make them again for Christmas Eve at another friends place.  Let’s hope they are as big a hit.

Truffles are very easy, although a little messy to make, they are always a crowd pleasers when it comes to friends with a very sweet tooth.  A lot of truffles are made with heavy cream – they are fabulous and incredibly rich.  For something a little different and not as rich or fattening, I like to make mine with low fat cream cheese.  They are still incredibly decadent and sweet and yes, a little fattening.

Vanilla, Almond & Espresso Chocolate Truffles
Makes 20

Ingredients

4oz low fat cream cheese
1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
½ teaspoon espresso, sifted
½ teaspoon Almond essence

For covering the truffles
1 tablespoon ground almonds
1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Directions

In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar until well blended.  Stir in melted chocolate until there are no more streaks.

Separate mixture into 3 separate bowls.  Add the vanilla, espresso and almond essence into separate bowls and mix well.Refrigerate for about 1 hour.
Put the ground almonds, confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder on separate small plates.
Make sure you hands are cold.  Heat from your hands can make rolling the truffles even more of mess.  I am probably at the very high-end of a messy cook and end up with food everywhere!  Shape mixture into small bite-sized balls and roll into the ground almonds, confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder. I made the vanilla with cocoa, espresso with chocolate and almond with the ground almonds.
Of course I had to try all three and I would say my favorites are the Espresso Truffles rolled in cocoa powder.  I had a few more just to make sure!

For truffles with more of a bite you can use any type of liqueur.  Cointreau, an orange liqueur is a wonderful addition.  Oh, and ignore the calorie count 🙂

Tracey