Truffles with a Touch of Irish Cream

A treat for my chocoholic mother-in-law on Mother’s Day: homemade truffles!

I actually used leftover, frozen ganache from cupcakes I made for St. Patrick’s day (so apparently ganache keeps frozen up to eight weeks and still tastes fine!). Once rolled into small balls, I had enough for 14 truffles. They just needed to be dipped in chocolate and coated in yumminess! Thank goodness for all the nuts and coconut — they did a great job hiding the imperfections of sloppy dipping.

With all the cooking and rolling and freezing and coating of this recipe, you have to leave enough time for the many (not very complicated) steps. The advantage of this recipe is that the ganache can be made way in advance (one recipe said “up to three weeks” in the fridge) and the truffles can be coated up to three days ahead.

Irish Cream Ganache (should make 50 small truffles, if you don’t stuff a bunch of cupcakes, first!):
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp butter, room temperature
2 tsp Irish cream

Coating:
6 oz. baking chocolate of your choice
Coconut
Finely chopped nuts
Pretty much anything! Coffee, cinnamon, sprinkles — get creative!

To make the ganache filling, place 8 oz. of chocolate in a glass bowl. Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan until simmering. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let stand for one minute. Whisk until smooth. If the chocolate is partially unmelted, microwave (15-20 seconds) and whisk again. Add the butter and Irish cream, stir until combined. Let cool, refrigerate at least two hours.

Cut the chilled ganache into small squares, or roll spoonfuls into balls (depending on the final shape you’d like). Freeze.

Up to three days before serving, coat the truffles. Melt the additional 6 oz. of chocolate in a double boiler, stirring. Cool for 15 minutes. Dip each truffle into the melted chocolate, set on wax paper and sprinkle with your topping of choice.

And here are a few more pics from our Mother’s Day Tea, because I know you’re dying to see the lovely setup!

We bought pastries from a fantastic LA bakery called Porto’s and the roses are all from my in-laws’ garden.