Mexican Hot Chocolate Truffle Balls

Seriously. These. Are. The. Best. Things. Ever. First of all….its a truffle…that you drop in hot milk…and it turns into rich hot chocolate. Second of all…it’s Mexican chocolate, so there is cinnamon, ginger, and a touch of cayenne that brings this hot chocolate to the next level. Not even the next level. The level 57 billion levels above the next level.

By the way, like my Peppermint Bark Oreo Pops, you will have to ignore the whole “light food that doesn’t skimp on flavor” subscript under the title of my blog for this particular post. I already went on about it in the Oreo Pops post, so I won’t do it again, but the gist is that it’s Christmas time so I am putting up a few junk food holiday treat recipes and diverting from the supposed “theme” behind The Garlic Diaries.

Back to the Truffle Balls…these are the perfect Christmas treat. It’s an amazing stocking stuffer (wrap them individually in Saran wrap, pop them in a cellophane bag, and place in stocking), and just a great thing to have around for those cold winter night! Just…just make them….just do it. I originally found a recipe similar to this here, and made them years ago as a Christmas gift for my brother. I was thinking about them last week and decided to make my own spin on the delicious little morsels.

So you start these amazing Mexican Hot Chocolate Truffle Balls by finely chopping four 4oz bars of semi-sweet chocolate (I used Bakers). It needs to be almost shaved. The more finely you chop it, the more likely it is that the cream will melt the chocolate into a ganache without you having to use the trusty microwave. Place your finely chopped chocolate into a medium bowl.

By the way…this wasn’t fine enough. I had to use the microwave. But the good news is, they still turned out perfect. So if this happens to you, it’s okay.

Now take a half pint of heavy cream and place it in a small pot over medium high heat.

Let the cream heat up to the point where it is just about to simmer/has just started simmering.

Pour the cream over the chocolate.

Using a spoon or a spatula, poke the chocolate down until it is all under the surface.

Let this sit for about a minute or so and then stir it together until the melted chocolate and cream form a smooth, shiny ganache.

If you still have little chunks of chocolate in yours, just head over to the microwave and pop it in there for 10 second increments, stirring in between each one, until your ganache is uniform and everything is melted together.

Now for the Mexican spices that make these truffles so over the top delicious.

Add in 1 3/4 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

So there are some grocery stores that sell Mexican chocolate, but I would much rather start with regular chocolate and add my own spices because that way I get to make it taste exactly how I want. With this recipe, I added the spices 1/4 teaspoon at a time until I thought it tasted perfect. I didn’t want it to be “spicy” per se, but I did want to get the little tickle in the back of my throat that the cayenne provides. It is all just so tasty.

So once you have this all mixed together, the ganache needs to cool until it is set. I ended up putting mine in the fridge until it was hard, and then just letting it sit out until it came to room temperature. But it basically needs to be firm but still scoop-able.

Once you have that consistency, you need to scoop out the ganache three tablespoons at a time.

So use your tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop out the ganache, and form little three tablespoon mounds on a plate.

Then you take that mound, and put it in your hands.

Then from there, form it into a ball like you did with play-dough as a kid.

And it turns into a perfect truffle. Beware…this is a messy job. But it’s totally worth it.

You can sprinkle some cinnamon over them if you want, but that is optional. They are delicious either way.

Once you are ready to drink the best hot chocolate ever, pour 8 oz (one cup) of milk into a mug, and drop one of these truffle balls into it. Place it in the microwave for about 2 minutes or until the milk is hot. Stir the hot chocolate with a spoon until the ball is broken up and melted. If there are still little flakes of chocolate, pop it in the microwave for another minute and stir.

That proportion of milk to chocolate will give you a super rich cup of coco that basically tastes like liquid chocolate once you get to the bottom, which is exactly how I like it. If this is too chocolaty for you (if there is such a thing), you can add some extra milk. I wouldn’t add more than 1/4 cup extra though, I added 1/2 cup extra to see how it tasted, and it wasn’t nearly chocolaty enough, in my opinion.

Soooooo gooooooodddddd….

Enjoy!

Here is the recipe:

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This recipe is adapted from http://www.melskitchencafe.com/truffle-hot-chocolate-balls-sugar-rush-2/