Dark Chocolate Truffles

I always have a hard time thinking of birthday presents. I tend to give the same item over and over -- especially for women. Bath stuff, candles, more bath stuff...  Then it occurred to me that homemade candy gifts - especially chocolate candy gifts might be just the ticket!

I perused Mr. Food Simply Chocolate cookbook and found "Truffles" on page 146.  I then thought dark chocolate might be better and as luck would have it, I had a package of those yummy morsels in my stash!

What You'll Need:

• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules (I did not have instant coffee, but, instant latte worked just fine.)
• 1 tablespoon hot water
• 2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate or white baking chips (I used a package of dark chocolate chips)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped toasted almonds (I toasted some coconut and used that instead.)

What To Do:

1. Recipe Instructions: In a small heavy saucepan, combine the evaporated milk and sugar; heat over medium heat until the mixture comes to a rolling boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly; remove from the heat.
    
2. In a cup, dissolve the coffee in the hot water; add to the milk mixture along with the chocolate chips and stir until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Cover and chill for 1 hour.
    
3. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls, then roll in the almonds (coconut). Place on a cookie sheet, cover, and chill for at least 2 hours, or until firm.  I found that the hardened mixture, too hard to get out of the pan.  I put the pan back on the stove for a few seconds and it was then more pliable.

I was able to actually try one, since they didn't all fit into the container. Lucky for me! And they were delicious!

Till next time...