In the Kitchen: Chocolate Truffles

This is Ree Drummond's recipe found on her show Pioneer Woman in the episode Chocolate Day. I separated the truffle mixture and added mint extract to half the recipe so I'd have some with mint and some that were plain chocolate.  I rolled the mint truffles in cocoa powder to finish them and used sparkle sugar on the plain chocolate truffles.  The finished product was so pretty!

Please follow the link to her recipe (and a very helpful video), I copied it here with my changes.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate ( I didn't measure exactly)
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate ( I used chips so I estimated about the same amount as the bittersweet chocolate)
• One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• Mint extract (4 drops)
• 8 ounces milk chocolate chips
• Sparkle Sugar
• cocoa powder for dusting

Directions

Heat the dark chocolates and condensed milk in a double boiler over medium-low heat until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. The mixture will have a slight marshmallow texture.

Remove from the heat.  Spoon some of the mixture into a separate bowl quickly and stir in mint extract.  Leave the other bowl of the mixture plain or mix in another flavoring to your taste.  Cover and refrigerate until completely cool, at least 2 hours.

Once chilled, roll in teaspoon-size balls, and then dip into the melted milk chocolate coating, using a fork to let the excess chocolate drip off.

Use sparkle sugar or cocoa powder to decorate the truffles.  Crushed nuts or powder sugar can also be used for a pretty finish.

Ree uses a tooth pick to help her slide the truffles off her fork.  I used this method for the first time and found it helpful.  In the past I've made buckeyes and had trouble getting them off the fork without wiping off some of the chocolate.  This is a bit time consuming but completely worth it.