Amazingly Easy "Truffles"

Take candy cups and paint melted chocolate on the bottom and rims. Choose one or more of the following fillings, whip those up and put into melted cups. They are divine!! And perfect for Valentine's :)

Pumpkin

½ cup milk

1 pkg (3 oz.) instant butterscotch pudding

½ cup canned pumpkin

¾ tsp. pumpkin spice

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Confectioners’ sugar to taste

Vanilla extract to taste

In a large bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 min. Let stand for 2 min. or until soft-set. Combine the pumpkin and pie spice; fold into pudding. Whip cream, add sugar and vanilla to taste. Fold into pudding.

Chocolate

1 cup (6 oz.) semi-sweet/white chocolate chips

8 oz. cream cheese

1 tsp. vanilla

8 oz. whipped cream

Heat chips until smooth, let cool 20 min. Beat cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Beat in cooled chocolate. Fold in whipped cream.

Caramel

8 oz. cream cheese

½ cup caramel topping, chilled

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in caramel. Is great with your favorite nut.

Strawberry (Or Raspberry)

1 (3 oz.) pkg. strawberry gelatin

2 T. water

4 oz. white chocolate chips

2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped

Heat gelatin and water over medium heat until gelatin is dissolved and very syrupy. Add chocolate, cook until smooth. Remove heat, let cool 20 min. Fold in whipped cream.

OR

4 oz. cream cheese

¼ cup sugar

3 T. strawberry jam

¼ cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar then jam. Fold in whipped cream.

Cherry

½ cup dried cherries, chopped

½ cup boiling water

¼ tsp. almond extract

8 oz. cream cheese

3 T. confectioners’ sugar

1 drop red food coloring

Combine cherries, water, and extract. Drain reserving liquid. Beat the cream cheese, add sugar, food coloring, 2 T. reserved liquid. Beat until smooth, fold in the cherries.

Peanut Butter

1 cup peanut butter (can use cashew butter)

8 oz. cream cheese

1 tsp. vanilla

Brown sugar to taste

¼ cup chopped peanuts (add cashews here)

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add peanut butter, then remaining ingredients. If using cashew butter you can omit the brown sugar and use caramel instead.

Orange

8 oz. cream cheese

1 T. confectioners’ sugar

1 T. orange juice concentrate

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar then juice concentrate.

Fruit & Nut

8 oz. cream cheese

¼ cup grated carrot

1 T. chopped raisins

1 T. chopped apricots

1 T. crushed pineapple (try to avoid lots of juice)

1 tsp. orange juice concentrate

2 T. pecans, chopped

1 T. sugar

Dash nutmeg

Boil carrots in water until tender. Remove from stove, add raisins and apricots. Let sit 20. min; drain. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add juice concentrate and remaining ingredients.

Hazelnut fruit

4 oz. cream cheese

4 oz. hazelnut butter

4 oz. apricot preserves

½ cup dried apricots

Soak apricots until soft, chop. Beat all ingredients together.

Coconut

1 pkg. (3 oz.) coconut cream pudding and pie filling mix

1 can coconut milk

1 cup flaked coconut

8 oz. whipped cream

Combine coconut and coconut milk. Let sit 20 min. Beat in pie mix. Fold in whipped cream.

Banana Cream

2 bananas

Banana pudding

Whipped cream

Slice one banana. Place ones slice in the bottom of each cup. Make pudding according to package directions, using half the liquid. Mash banana and mix with whipped cream. Fold into pudding.

Confetti Cups

8 oz. cream cheese

2 T. sugar

½ tsp. vanilla extract

2 T. sprinkles (crushed candy corn also works)

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and vanilla. Fold in sprinkles.

Maple

4 oz. white chocolate chips

1 T. cream

8 oz. cream cheese

2 T. brown sugar

2 T. maple syrup

1 tsp. maple extract

¼ cup chopped nuts

Combine in double boiler white chocolate and cream. Heat until smooth. Let cool 10 minutes. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add white chocolate and remaining ingredients.

Peppermint

4 oz. white chocolate chips

1 T. cream

8 oz. cream cheese

2 T. sugar

7-10 crushed starlight mints

1 drop peppermint extract

Combine in double boiler white chocolate and cream. Heat until smooth. Let cool 10 minutes. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add white chocolate and remaining ingredients.

Rocky Road

8 oz. cream cheese

½ cup marshmallow crème

1 ½ cups mini chocolate morsels, divided

¼ cup sliced almonds

Heat cream cheese until smooth, add marshmallows. Stir in almonds and ¾ cup chocolate chips. Melt remaining chips. Fold into marshmallow until marbled but not completely mixed.

Egg Nog

1 pkg. (3 oz.) vanilla pudding and pie filling mix

2 cups egg nog

2 eggs

¼ tsp. nutmeg

8 oz. whipped cream

Prepare pudding according to package using egg nog in place of milk. Beat eggs, stir a small amount of hot pudding into eggs. Add eggs to pudding. Stir until thick. Add nutmeg. Cool. Fold in whipped cream.

Mixed Nut

8 oz. cream cheese

½ cup cashew butter

2 T. white chocolate curls

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. chocolate powder

¼ cup walnuts, pecans, cashews, pistachios, brazil nuts

¼ cup whipped cream (optional)

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat cashew butter, sugar, and cocoa. Stir in nuts and white chocolate. Fold in whipped cream if desired.

Black Forest

8 oz. cream cheese

1 T. sugar

½ tsp. vanilla

¼ tsp. almond extract

Cherry pie filling

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and extract. Fill cups half way, top with pie filling.

Turtle

8 oz. cream cheese

½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 T. caramel

Caramel

Chocolate chips or hot fudge sauce

Chopped pecans

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add caramel and extract. Top with caramel, nuts, and fudge.

Cookies & Cream

4 oz. cream cheese

3 oz. plain yogurt

1/3 cup sugar

¼ tsp. vanilla

4-6 chocolate cream cookies, chopped

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add yogurt, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in cookies.

Or play with your own combos

Basic truffle filling: equal parts semi-sweet chocolate chips and heavy cream. Scald the cream, then stir in the chips until smooth. Cool and pipe through a pastry bag. Store chilled.

If using white or milk chocolate, use 2 parts melted chips to 1 part softened cream cheese. Mix well. If desired, lighten with 1 part lightly sweetened whipped cream, folded in gently.

Flavoring Options

Vanilla or coconut extract is good in all of them.

Cinnamon, and nutmeg in white chocolate.

Lime zest, coconut, and almond flakes in white chocolate filling and white chocolate cups.

Lemon or orange zest in any filling cup. Garnish with spiraled zest.

Almond extract in semi-sweet filling.

Add ½ part nut butter to semi-sweet filling (peanut, hazelnut, almond, cashew). Garnish with sliced or chopped nut.

Place a fresh raspberry in the bottom of a cup and cover with filling.

Add finely crushed peppermint candy to any filling in any cup.

Swirl cooled chocolate with butterscotch sauce- place in cups then swirl lightly with a toothpick.

We did these for our Relief Society Activity and it was SOOOO much fun and extremely delicious. Easy to make even with kids. You can decorate the tops too with mint leaves or nuts or whatever. I'll be posting more easy truffle recipes as soon as I get them from the other sisters :)

Splenda

Can I just say that I love Splenda? I know it's expensive, but I love how it makes you feel better about using it because it has like, 10 calories per serving. We also get the brown sugar Splenda. I use it in every recipe now and when I run out and use sugar, it's almost too sweet. I did hear that Splenda has about 20% of heavy metals in it though, so that's worrisome. But I guess until they prove that it killed somebody, I'll continue using it to ease my conscience. :)