Merry (belated) Christmas everybody!
This year, my family had more than 20 guests over on Christmas Eve to celebrate the holiday. With all those different personalities, it definitely borderlined on madness. Lets just say that we were LOUD. There were tears, cheers, and, in all honesty, probably some secretive jeers. Welcome to the family gatherings, right? Haha! It was an uncharacteristically busy Christmas but, in all seriousness, it was really nice. Luckily work has been slow the past two days, so I’ve had some time to decompress from our crazy holiday.
We had a ton of food at our party and more than half of it was some kind of dessert. One of those dishes were coconut white chocolate truffles. I made them earlier in the week and kept them chilled until the guests arrived. They’re super creamy and rich, with a deep coconut flavor from both the extract and flaked coconut coating. Each bite is like chocolate butt-ah. They’re sweet, but hey, they’re truffles so what do you expect? If you’re looking for a decadent holiday dessert that’s also easy to make, you’ll love this recipe. Oh yeah, and I want to point out that they look like snowballs…and you can’t go wrong with something like that during the winter :D.
Just some technical info for you folks – you’re basically making a thick ganache that you roll into balls. A ganache thickens when the fat content comes out of the melted chocolate. Since there is less fat in inexpensive/lower quality chocolate (i.e. store brand chocolate chips), you may need to use more chocolate. If you have to thicken it up, re-melt everything and add in more chocolate.
Anyway, that’s it for the day. Enjoy your post Christmas weekend and leftovers!
**Makes 40 truffles**
3 3/4 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon coconut extract
Salt
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
In a saucepan over medium high heat, melt the butter into the heavy cream. Remove from the heat and pour this hot cream over the chocolate chips. Whisk until the chocolate has melted.
Stir in a pinch of salt and the coconut extract.
Pour this chocolate mixture into a small tuberware container, cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours (I chill it overnight). The chocolate will “harden”, but remain malleable.
Using a melon baller or a teaspoon, scoop out spoonfuls of the chocolate. Roll into balls. Roll in the shredded coconut.
Serve and enjoy!
