Day 5: Chocolate Truffles with Sea Salt

Yes, its Day 5 of the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies, and today I bring you a treat that is not actually a cookie at all. I decided to include these anyways, as with some other "treats" later on because I like variety on my cookie platters.

In past years I have made both chocolate fudge and peppermint bark. Both have been hits in the past, but this year I wanted to try something different. I saw these truffles on Pioneer Woman's blog, and decided they would be a good substitute. If you have never tried chocolate with sea salt, you really should. It is an unbelievably heavenly combination.

These little truffles are delicious - Josh can't keep his hands off them, and he really isn't a chocolate lover! I had a hard time rolling the filling part into balls - it was very sticky. I was constantly moving the dough in and out of the fridge/freezer and washing my hands. In the end they turned out nice and yummy though, so I guess it was worth it.

Chocolate Truffles with Sea Salt

from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

makes ~34 truffles

8 ounces, weight (up To 9 Oz.) Good Semisweet Chocolate (I used Ghirardelli)
8 ounces, weight (up To 9 Oz.) Good Bittersweet Chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 60% cacao)
1 can (14 Oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Tbsp. Vanilla Extract
8 ounces, weight Meltable Milk Chocolate (I used Nestle chocolate chips)
Sea Salt (I used a sea salt grinder to get slightly larger chunks)

DIRECTIONS:

Heat dark chocolates and condensed milk in a double boiler over medium low heat until chocolate is melted. Stir—mixture will have a slight marshmallow texture. Stir in vanilla.

Remove from heat, cover and refrigerate for two hours. (I recommend overnight.)

Once chilled, roll in balls, then roll in melted milk chocolate coating. (I recommend using a fork to dip in the the chocolate, as the excess can run through the tongs back into the bowl. PW has a picture by picture tutorial with some other tips and tricks on her site.) Sprinkle with sea salt or other fine, coarse sprinkles.

REVIEW:

These are definitely tasty little chocolate bombs. I have no idea what I did wrong, but when I rolled out the truffle center, mine didn't look like the picture on PWs site. They just weren't as smooth looking. But regardless, they were still round, and you couldn't tell once I covered them in the milk chocolate. I might adjusting the filling recipe a little next time (adding less condensed milk), but I think I would probably make some variation of these again. I also think they would make a great gift on their own, if you package them up nicely in a little box with a bow.