Cranberry White Chocolate Truffles

Home-made cranberry sauce usually tastes better than canned, but the texture might need adjusting when used in this recipe – make sure it's finely chopped or your ganache may be too chunky. Running the sauce through a mini-chopper for a few seconds should do the trick.

By Dede Wilson

Dede Wilson | Truffles: 50 Deliciously Decadent Homemade Chocolate Treats | Harvard Common Press, 2006

"The tart fruity flavor of cranberries – both from cranberry sauce and dried cranberries – balances out the sweetness of white chocolate in this truffle. The cranberries also lend a pinkish color to the ganache centre. Try this recipe with Valrhona ivoire white chocolate." – Dede Wilson

Yield: About 50

Ingredients

6 tbsps. heavy whipping cream
1 1/4lbs. white couverture chocolate, very finely chopped
1 1/2 tbsps. canned whole-berry cranberry sauce
3 tbsps. finely chopped sweetened dried cranberries (each piece should be approximately 1/8 to 1/4 inch)
Confectioner's sugar
50 small fluted paper cups (optional)

Recipe Instructions

Place cream in a 2-quart wide saucepan over medium heat until it just comes to a simmer. Remove from heat and immediately sprinkle 9 ½ oz. of the chocolate into cream. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes; the heat should melt the chocolate. Stir very gently until smooth.

Whisk in the cranberry sauce and 2 tbsps. chopped dried cranberries. Pour mixture into a shallow bowl, cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap, then refrigerate until firm enough to roll, preferably overnight.

Coat your hands with confectioner's sugar and roll ganache into ¾-inch balls. Place in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan and refrigerate until very firm.

Temper the remaining chocolate (see instructions). Line a jelly-roll pan with aluminum foil, shiny side up, smoothing out any wrinkles, or cover pan with a piece of acetate.

Dip truffles in the melted chocolate, or roll in chocolate between your palms, making as thin and even a coating as possible. Place truffles on the prepared pan. Top each truffle with a piece of chopped cranberry while chocolate coating is still wet. Refrigerate until firm. Place in fluted paper cups, if desired, and serve at room temperature.

Truffles - 50 Deliciously Decadent Homemade Chocolate Treats | Dede Wilson | Harvard Common Press, 2006. All rights reserved.

Looking for recipe supplies? Check out our reference pages:

Want to become expert in working with chocolate in order to create beautiful chocolate bonbons, confections and bars, check out our Professional Chocolatier Program.

Photography by Jessica Washburn, Bliss Chocolatier and Ecole Chocolat