Coconut Truffles

For the longest time, I was afraid to make truffles. They seemed entirely too hard, and I paid a ridiculous amount of money for them from Godiva because I thought that was best. Then a couple of years ago I decided to bite the bullet and make some, and I'll never pay for them again. Other than the ridiculous mess making them leaves behind, they're almost stupid easy. This particular recipe comes from Betty Crocker, so you know it can't be that big a challenge.

The original recipe said it makes 32, so I doubled everything. I'm assuming I make mine smaller than they do, since I ended up with about 9 dozen. Simple ingredients, though... chocolate chips (I did two semi-sweet and one milk), condensed milk, coconut extract, and coconut to roll them in.

First step is to combine the chocolate chips and condensed milk in a large pan over low heat. Don't be tempted to turn the heat higher; it takes less than 10 minutes for the chocolate chips to start melting, and then you stir. The recipe says to leave it sitting there for about 7 minutes until the milk starts to bubble at the edges, but I stirred fairly frequently because I was afraid the chocolate would scorch.

Once the chips were about half melted, I then went back to the recipe and removed the pan from the heat and stirred until it was almost completely smooth. Then I stirred in the coconut extract, which made the melted chocolate a lot smoother and glossier.

From there, just scrape the chocolate mixture into a bowl. Cover it, and refrigerate it for at least an hour. I left mine for more like 6 hours, and the top was starting to dry. I had to re-melt the chocolate with my hands in order to get the coconut to stick.

I ended up using about 1 1/2 packages of coconut (they were 7 ounce packages) to coat all the truffles. Your mileage will vary depending on how big you make them and how much coconut you coat them with. The recipe says to wash your hands if the chocolate starts sticking, but I beg to differ. It wasn't until I stopped trying to wash it off that I started successfully rolling balls rather than roughly round shapes, and it also helped make the coconut stick better.

I stored mine in a plastic box, not necessarily an airtight one, but a plastic box with a lid. Mostly because that makes them easier to keep in the refrigerator during the holidays when shelf space is at a premium, because then I can put stuff on top of them. They are good cold, but they're better at room temperature as the recipe says.

Coconut Truffles

Makes 32

Ingredients
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips (18 oz)

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)

2 teaspoons coconut extract

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Serving Size: 37 g

Calories: 162

Calories from Fat: 72

Total Fat: 8.0 g

Saturated Fat: 5.3 g

Trans Fat: 0.0 g

Cholesterol: 3 mg

Sodium: 21 mg

Total Carbohydrates: 22.2 g

Dietary Fiber: 1.2 g

Sugars: 19.1 g

Protein: 1.0 g

As always when a recipe isn't mine, I'm giving credit at the end as well as the beginning. This one comes from Betty Crocker.