Truffles are ready for their closeup!

This is just a quick post to let you know how the second round of truffle making went. I made four different flavors and used the full Martha Stewart truffle recipe for each, so I had about 42 (small) truffles of each flavor. I finished them up on Sunday. and they are now packaged and ready to be hand-delivered to my family and friends for Christmas.

The Fourth Mystery Flavor
If you've been following the last three posts, you know I wasn't a huge fan of the plain truffle covered in cocoa. So, finding a fourth flavor was the major dilemma this round. I finally caved to D's preferences and made a Jack Daniels truffle coated in chopped pecans. Our tribute to the South is actually delicious (can you hear the banjo strummin')! I used 3 tablespoons of whiskey to cover a full recipe and it tastes potent but not rum ball icky. You can always add a tablespoon and then taste it to see how much whiskey flavor you like.

A Better Mint Truffle
The second issue was creating a better mint truffle. Since using mint leaves made the truffles taste too leafy and green, I opted for peppermint oil. Just a tablespoon flavored them very well. I put a few candy canes in the food processor and used this to roll them in. They taste like Andes to me, minty and lovely!

The Final Four Truffle Flavors 
Ancho chile and cinnamon coated in sugar crystals
Jack Daniels coated in pecans
Cardamom and coffee coated in almonds
Peppermint coated in crushed candy cane

I packaged them in these adorable mini-Chinese take-out boxes from the Container store and wrapped them in hot pink ribbon with cutie-pie white and green dots. The truffles plus D's ridiculously yummy take on Irish Cream (Jack Daniels, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, heavy cream, and sweetened condensed milk), and some homemade granola are all getting placed in a neon green bag and wrapped in hot pink tissue (can you tell neon green and hot pink are this year's Christmas colors?) to finish off the homemade gift. Phew! Now to packing!

I couldn't resist taking a photo of the little truffle army. Er, marching band, it is Christmastime after all.

 Happy Holiday!