Christmas Truffle Recipe Round-Up

Can you believe Christmas is NEXT week?! That's right - just one week away!

If you're anything like me, you need gifts for your neighbors... or your kids' teachers... or random family members who show up at holiday parties... or you just need something deliciously sweet to take your mind off of spending so much time with family over the holidays. ;-)

Whatever the case, these four truffle recipes are sure to hit the sweet-tooth spot AND be a big hit at all holiday gatherings.

Last year, I made all four of these truffles, packaged them up all nice and neat in these adorable Christmas tins (from Dollar Tree - holla!), used mini muffin wrappers to individually hold them... and I took them across the country for my family to eat devour after Christmas dinner. The four different truffle flavors are: Chocolate Peanut Butter, Gingerbread, Egg Nog, and Peppermint Chocolate. YUM.

This year? Yeah, that hasn't happened yet. Don't get me wrong: I want them. But I just got over a terrible sinus infection ordeal that involved a middle of the night trip to the ER on base... and taking care of Annabelle and making gobs of Etsy orders to ship out in time for Christmas has left me feeling less than motivated to do anything else before we head out on our road trip next week. Who knows? Maybe the feeling will strike, and I'll whip one or two of these up... but I promise you won't regret it if you make all four. They're worth it. 

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER TRUFFLES

Prep Time: 15 minutes                                                                             

Cooking Time: 1 hour (chill time)

Yield: 2 dozen truffles

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 tbsp butter, melted

• 1/2 cup peanut butter

• 1+ cup powdered sugar

• 2 tbsp marshmallow fluff (optional)

• 8 oz chocolate candy coating

Directions

1. Melt butter in the microwave.

2. In a medium bowl, combine peanut butter, butter, and marshmallow fluff, and stir well to combine.

3. Using a spatula to mix, gradually add 1 cup of powdered sugar, adding more until dough is no longer sticky.

4. Whip peanut butter mixture until no longer clumpy looking.

5. Roll dough into a large ball, and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

6. Roll one inch balls from dough, and place on a cookie sheet.

7. Return the dough balls to the refrigerator.

8. Melt chocolate candy coating according to package directions.

9. Line another baking sheet with wax paper.

10. Dip dough balls into chocolate, and place on the wax paper to dry.

11. Refrigerate truffles when finished. 

GINGERBREAD TRUFFLES

Prep Time: 15 minutes                                                                             

Cooking Time: 1 hour (chill time)

Yield: 2 dozen truffles

Ingredients

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened

• 8 oz ginger snap cookies

• 12 oz white chocolate chips

• decorations (optional)

Directions

1. Line cookie sheet with wax paper.

2. Finely crush ginger snaps in a food processer.

3. Add cream cheese, and pulse until combined.

4. Refrigerate for a half hour.

5. Form into one inch balls, and place on cookie sheet.

6. Insert a toothpick in each one, and freeze for 30 minutes.

7. Melt chocolate chips, stirring often to avoid burning.

8. Use toothpick to dip each ball into melted chocolate, and then remove toothpicks.

9. Use decorations to cover the toothpick holes if you want!

EGG NOG TRUFFLES

Prep Time: 15 minutes                                                                             

Cooking Time: 1 hour (chill time)

Yield: 2 dozen truffles

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar

• ¾ cup eggnog

• ½ cup butter

• 1 tsp rum flavoring

• 1 tsp nutmeg

• 1 cup marshmallow cream

• 3 cups white chocolate chips

• 1 bar white vanilla/almond bark

• 1 tbsp nutmeg, for garnish

Directions

1. In a large pot, bring sugar, eggnog, and butter to a rolling boil for two minutes.

2. Remove from heat, and mix in rum flavoring and 1 tsp nutmeg.

3. Pour mixture into a mixing bowl, and stir in marshmallow cream and white chocolate chips. Mix until completely melted and incorporated.

4. Refrigerate for one hour.

5. Roll mixture into one inch balls, and freeze for one hour.

6. Melt vanilla/almond bark, and dip each ball until coated.

7. Immediately sprinkle a small amount of nutmeg on each one (as you go so they don’t dry).

8. Allow to set in refrigerator for another 30 minutes. 

PEPPERMINT CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

Prep Time: 15 minutes                                                                             

Cooking Time: 1 hour (chill time)

Yield: 2 dozen truffles

Ingredients

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 1 cup chocolate chips, melted

• ½ tsp peppermint extract

• 1/3 cup crushed candy canes

Directions

1. Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.

2. Melt chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring often so they don’t burn.

3. Add melted chocolate and peppermint extract to cream cheese mixture, and beat until smooth and well combined.

4. Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

5. Roll into one inch balls.

6. Roll balls in crushed candy canes.

*Note: don’t roll in candy canes until the day you’re serving.

Do you like truffles?

What is your favorite kind?

Do you LOVE all the Christmas desserts like me?

    

Easy Pasta Salad: Recipe

Let me start this post by saying that no, I have NOT been cooking since our sweet baby arrived last week! However, the weekend before we had her, we attended a pot luck dinner for the Boy Scout troop Dan volunteers with.

It was an award ceremony / rank promotion, and it was really cool to talk more to the people he works with each week and meet the high school student he has spent so much time with helping him achieve the special God and Life award!

Everyone was supposed to bring something, and not knowing when I would go into labor, I opted for this SUPER easy pasta salad that my mom (and many others, I'm sure) has been making for as long as I can remember.

The only thing you have to remember is that the noodles will have to cool after being boiled before you can add the other ingredients. 

I doubled this recipe for the event, but in hindsight, I wish I hadn't. There was SO MUCH food there. 

And now for the good part... the recipe!

Do you like pasta salad?

What is your go-to dish for a pot luck?

    

2 Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins: Recipe

It's Friday again, and since it's finally September, I am sharing this super awesome pumpkin muffin recipe with you all!

Recipe is subjective, though. I feel pretty silly even sharing this one. It's all over Pinterest, though, so I had to give it a try... and what kind of blogger would I be if I didn't share my results with you? ;-)

I'll admit it. I thought they were going to be dry and dense... and not very good. Luckily, that was not the case! The canned pumpkin turned these bad boys out just right!

This recipe made 12 muffins for us. We ate them ALL within a few days. I totally meant to freeze some for easy snacks for after Baby Cookie gets here... but that went out the door when we tasted how good these are. Plus, they're so easy, I'm sure I can whip up another batch soon!

2 Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins

INGREDIENTS

• 1 package cake mix (any kind - I used butter pecan here, but I've heard spice, carrot, and yellow all work really well!)

• 1 15 oz. can pure pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

• OPTIONAL: chocolate chips / cream cheese frosting

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350º.

2. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix and the pumpkin.

3. Use a beater to mix until batter is consistent.

4. Add chocolate chips if you are using. (I used the mini ones in mine!)

5. Scoop the mixture into muffin liners.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes (mine needed 22 minutes exactly).

7. Try to let them cool before digging in... but we couldn't wait that long!

Are you a 'pumpkin' person?

What's your favorite kind of muffin?

    

Chocolate Candy Cookies: Recipe

It's been a while since I've participated in my own little Food Friday... which is disappointing since I've still been making things. I just haven't found the time to share the recipes.

Today's is a winner, though - super duper easy cookies... and all that chocolate. Mmmmm.

But really - these are SO easy. I made them when the Air Force Academy flying team was in Ohio to compete at Nationals. Dan was on the team while he was a cadet, so we drove to Columbus a couple times to see some of his friends and watch them compete. And who would I be if I showed up without goodies for them? Exactly. 

They loved these. And they were a big hit with my pregnant taste buds as well. Enjoy.

Easy Chocolate Candy Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1 package chocolate cake mix

• 1 egg

• 1/2 cup butter, softened

• 2 tbsp chocolate syrup (or water if you don't have any)

• 1 1/2 cups M&Ms or other chocolate candies

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350º.

2. In a large bowl, combine the egg, butter, syrup, and cake mix with an electric mixer on low speed until completely mixed.

3. Add candies, a little at a time, and stir in with a wooden spoon.

4. Drop rounded tablespoonfulls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet about two inches apart.

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

6. Cool on wire racks.

Do you like chocolate?

What's your favorite kind of cookie?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles: Recipe

Happy Food Friday, everyone! I am so excited to FINALLY be blogging about these delicious truffles today. I made them for... get this... CHRISTMAS last year. You read that right. I've been sitting on this recipe for FIVE MONTHS. Oops.

And don't fret: there are even more to come. I made four flavors of truffles, and I'll eventually share them all. The others definitely have bigger Christmas flavors, so it seems a little weird to post them in May... but probably in a couple months when I'm out of post topics you'll see a little bit of Christmas in July!

These are seriously so good. And just because I made them for Christmas doesn't mean they wouldn't be delicious any other time of year. Peanut butter is versatile, guys. And delicious. You should definitely make these. 

The peanut butter balls without the candy coating are also incredible stuffed inside cupcakes, in case you were wondering. Yum. 

Don't these just make you want to eat the entire tin? I want some right now, but next time, I'd make AT LEAST a double batch. I only didn't this time because I was making three other kinds as well to take to our family Christmas dinner. Everyone enjoyed these, and the peanut butter ones were the first to go! 

I highly recommend making them for a family gathering... or a military function... or just for yourself because you won't want to share!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles

INGREDIENTS

• 3 1/2 tbsp butter, melted

• 1/2 cup peanut butter

• 1+ cup powdered sugar

• 2 tbsp marshmallow fluff (optional)

• 8 oz chocolate candy coating

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt butter in the microwave.

2. In a medium bowl, combine peanut butter, butter, and marshmallow fluff, and stir well to combine.

3. Using a spatula to mix, gradually add 1 cup of powdered sugar, adding more until dough is no longer sticky.

4. Whip peanut butter mixture until no longer clumpy looking.

5. Roll dough into a large ball, and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

6. Roll one inch balls from dough, and place on a cookie sheet.

7. Return the dough balls to the refrigerator.

8. Melt chocolate candy coating according to package directions.

9. Line another baking sheet with wax paper.

10. Dip dough balls into chocolate, and place on the wax paper to dry.

11. Refrigerate truffles when finished. 

Do you like truffles?

Are you a fan of chocolate and peanut butter together?