For the last few years I’ve been making little treats for the children to give to their teachers at Christmas.
We’ve made biscuits and chocolate bark a few times before, so this year I wanted to try something different. These Irish cream chocolate truffles were the perfect choice for a quick and easy gift to make.
I always thought truffles were quite tricky to make for some reason, but honestly these are so simple to do and so tasty too!
This recipe makes about 40 truffles, and takes around 30 minutes of work to create (with about an hour more needed for chilling the mixture).
What you need:
- 200 g milk chocolate
- 150 ml double cream
- 50 ml Irish cream (I used Merlyn, but any Irish cream will do)
- Cocoa powder for dusting
How to make the truffles:
- Break the chocolate up into chunks and put into a microwave safe bowl.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave, in 30 second blasts until fully melted. If you’d rather you can melt the chocolate gently in a saucepan, or in a bowl placed over a pan of water on the hob.
- Once the chocolate is melted give it a good stir, then mix in the cream and Irish cream.
- Stir the mixture quickly and thoroughly to combine the ingredients together.
- Put the bowl in the fridge for the mixture to chill. If you want it to chill and set a bit quicker you can transfer it to a bigger tupperware dish.
- Leave in the fridge for about an hour to set.
- Once the ganache is set you can make it into truffles.
- Use a teaspoon or a melon baller to scoop out bitesize pieces of ganache. Roll them into balls using the palms of your hands, then roll the balls in the cocoa powder to coat them.
- Set them on a plate as you make them, then put the plate back in the fridge once you’ve made them all to stop them getting too soft.
- The truffles are best kept in the fridge, so leave them there as long as possible before serving. If you’re giving the truffles as presents then make sure you let people know it’s best to put them in the fridge as soon as they can.
These truffles are lovely and chocolatey, with a nice amount of Irish cream flavour. If you want a bigger Bailey’s hit though, you can change the proportions to 100ml double cream and 100ml Irish cream.
You can also make the truffles richer and more indulgent by using good quality dark chocolate instead of milk. And if you don’t fancy they rolled in cocoa powder then you can use chocolate sprinkles instead. I also think they’d be lovely rolled in finely crushed amaretti biscuits.