Vanilla Toffee Truffles
WARNING: Addiction ahead.
Do you want to make the easiest fucking thing, ever, for your office cookie exchange? Or your post woman? Or your UPS driver? Your kid’s teacher? (Yourself, because YUM?) This is the recipe. It’s so easy, you can vary the ingredients, and it doesn’t take a lot of time. Win/Win.
I got this recipe from my friend, Kathy. She throws a massive holiday party at her house in Long Island every winter, and said she makes trays and trays of these, and they’re all gone by morning. I’m writing up my favorite version of this recipe, and I’m providing variations below - would love to hear more if you think of them!
Ingredients:
- 1 package vanilla sandwich cookies
- 1 8oz. package cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 bag of toffee bits
- White chocolate for melting
- Coconut oil
- Sprinkles
- Wax paper
Directions:
In a food processor, puree the entire package of cookies until it’s a fine powder. Add the cookie powder and the cream cheese to a stand mixer, and whip together for a couple of minutes. Add the bag of toffee chips and mix until combined.
Line a cookie sheet with wax paper, and using a small ice cream scoop or tablespoon-sized measuring spoon, scoop even-sized amounts of the cookie mixture and roll them into balls. Chill them on the cookie sheet for at least 30 minutes.
Melt the chocolate: Divide the white chocolate in half (let's say 2 cups, total) and chop it up into even pieces. Put half into a glass bowl, and put the glass bowl on top of a saucepan with simmering water. Add a couple tablespoons of coconut oil to the white chocolate in the bowl, and stir occasionally until the chocolate is totally melted and glossy. Remove the bowl and stir in the other half of the chocolate until it’s all combined and melted. (You could also melt the chocolate using a microwave, stirring every 30 seconds, but I prefer the stove.)
Take the truffles out of the fridge and dip them in the chocolate. Using a fork, lift them one at a time out of the chocolate and set them back onto the wax paper. Be gentle, since it can dent or break up sometimes.
Tip: I didn’t have a cooling rack at the time I made these (such a strange thing not to have in my kitchen), so I put them back onto the wax paper to solidify, but if you have a cooling rack, it works even better:
- Put the cooling rack over a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.
- As you remove the truffles from the chocolate, put them on the cooling rack.
This way, the paper underneath catches the excess chocolate, and you don’t get pooling under each truffle.
Every few truffles, scatter some sprinkles on top before the chocolate starts to solidify again. When you’re done with the truffles, put them back into the fridge for at least 30 minutes to fully harden.
When they’re done, if there is chocolate pooling, you can just use a pairing knife to cut it off the bottom. I love to store these in wax-papered layers in metal holiday tins. Keep them in the fridge, because dairy, but take them out like 30 minutes to an hour before you’re planning to serve them.
The recipe makes about 3 dozen, and if you need more, it’s super easy to double, triple, etc. (But you could also make multiple flavors, too, so have at it!)
Variations:
Mint chocolate truffles: Use chocolate sandwich cookies and dark or milk chocolate on the outsides. Chop up some mint chocolate bars (or just buy pre-chopped mint baking chips on Amazon), and use that in place of the toffee, and sprinkle crushed candy canes on the top. You could also put 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract for a super minty punch.
Plain chocolate: Chocolate sandwich cookies plus regular cream cheese, add a bag of mini chocolate chips, and your choice of chocolate on the outside.
German chocolate: Chocolate sandwich cookies plus cream cheese, add 1 cup caramel chips and 1 cup shredded coconut, then dip into dark chocolate. Top with toasted coconut.
Mocha: Chocolate sandwich cookies plus cream cheese, add a couple teaspoons of coffee liqueur and 1 teaspoon of instant coffee powder. Dip in milk chocolate and top with a chocolate-covered espresso bean.
Pecan snickerdoodles: Vanilla sandwich cookies plus cream cheese, add 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 1/2 cups of chopped, toasted pecans. Dip into white chocolate and top with cinnamon-sugar dust.
Birthday cake: Vanilla or cake-flavored sandwich cookies plus cream cheese, add 1 cup rainbow sprinkles. Dip into white chocolate and top with more sprinkles.
Red Velvet: Chocolate sandwich cookies plus cream cheese, add red food coloring and 1 1/2 cups chopped, toasted pecans. Dip into white chocolate and dust with cocoa powder.
Peanut butter and chocolate: Chocolate sandwich cookies plus cream cheese. Add a bag of peanut butter chips. For the outside, melt peanut butter chips and dark chocolate in two separate bowls and then swirl them together, not completely mixing them. Dip the truffles for a marbled effect and top with crushed peanuts.
Chocolate covered strawberries:* Chocolate sandwich cookies plus strawberry cream cheese. Add freshly chopped strawberries (you’ll want these to chill longer before dipping because of the moisture in the strawberries). Dip into milk or dark chocolate and dust with red sprinkles, or a mint leaf. *Keep in mind, because of the fresh berries, these will likely not stay fresh as long, so I usually do these up to 2 days before I need them.
Chocolate covered cherries: Chocolate sandwich cookies plus regular cream cheese. Add chopped, candied cherries. Dip into milk or dark chocolate and top with red sprinkles or sliced almonds.
Toasted almond: Vanilla sandwich cookies plus regular cream cheese. Add 1 1/2 cups of chopped, toasted almonds (sliced will work, too) and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. Dip into white chocolate and top with slice almonds and shredded coconut.
Chocolate caramel with sea salt: Chocolate sandwich cookies plus regular cream cheese. Add a bag of caramel chips. Dip into dark chocolate and top with flaked sea salt. These also work well with vanilla cookies, if you prefer the flavor.
Want to go further down this rabbit hole? I’d be happy to hear about other combinations you think up! Having trouble finding ingredients? Don’t forget that Amazon has all the things.
Enjoy!
