S’mores Truffles

Here we are again! Like it or not, we are quickly approaching the end of summer. I know, it feels like it just started, but what can you do? Personally, I cannot wait to start enjoying that fresh, crisp fall air. It’s just the way I’m wired. Call me crazy, but I’m not a huge fan of being uncomfortably hot. So sayonara, summer, I hardly wanted to know thee.

But before it goes, I wanted to give it a final oorah. With so many different ways to celebrate summer with food, you really can’t go wrong. Something fruity, refreshing, light, full of herbs or other garden treasures. There’s plenty of things you can do to send off summer in a respectful way that doesn’t involve obscene hand gestures. Let’s be honest though, even with the dozens of great flavors you can get with summer, not many things can compare to the s’more. It’s a perfect balance of everything that is good and just in the universe. So again, I’m picking it as my final farewell to summer. I figure since it’s one of my all time favorite flavor combinations, it should be able to balance out the dislike I have for my least favorite season.

Fun fact: August 10th is National S’mores Day! I mean, do you really need any more reasons to give these a try?! And if you remember, for last year’s National S’mores Day, I made some pretty sweet S’mores Shot Glasses. Just thinking about those makes me want s’more… Get it? Want S’mo…….

The inspiration for these little treasures come straight from Wilton. During the Sweet-Up I was fortunate enough to be a part of earlier this year, they gave us a sample of two treats: A Marvelous Merveilleux, and a S’mores Truffle. They were talking about flavor combinations and introducing the S’mores Candy Melts that are currently a Limited Edition for the summer. The wife was a little disappointed when I returned to the hotel room truffle-less, so that gave me the push to give it a shot. If you’re wondering about the exact recipe they used, you can find it here. You’ll noticed how ridiculously easy both our recipes seem to be. And that’s because truffles themselves are insanely easy to make. A little time consuming, but easy nonetheless. How easy? Check it out…

S’mores Truffles         (adapted from Wilton)

 

2 bags – Wilton Limited Edition S’mores Candy Melts
1 1/4 cup – Heavy Whipping Cream
1 cup – Mini Marshmallows

 

1 1/2 cups – Chocolate Chips or Bakers Chocolate

 

1 package – Graham Crackers, crushed

 

Notes:

• As it turns out, I didn’t think to look for the recipe on Wilton’s site. I created my own recipe, and as I was writing this, I searched for s’mores candy melts on their site and it popped up. Duh, Los.

• I felt like the amount of cream I used may have been a tad too much. There were no problems, it set fine, and everything was good. But I feel like they could’ve had more structure instead of the softer, more velvety way they turned out. If you don’t mind it, stick with it. If you want your truffle more dense and firm, omit like a 1/3 cup of cream.
• Originally, the plan was to roll then coat in graham like it was when I tried it at Wilton. But they were so soft, you wouldn’t have been able to handle them out of refrigeration. So that’s why i decided to coat in chocolate.
• Coincidentally, that’s also why they’re not perfect spheres. But I’m a rustic kind of guy, and I dig how they don’t look like a traditional truffle. Come to think of it, they look like actual truffles! So if you’re sitting there judging my skills, know that I was purposely going for that look. Yeah, that’s right, I’m owning it. Like a boss.
• A BOSS.
• Speaking of chocolate, if you had more S’mores Candy Melts, you could use a bag of that instead of the chips.
• You can heat the cream in the microwave or stove top. I prefer stove top because something happened one time that I don’t like talking about.
• I would start this in the morning. There’s a lot of cooling involved and that takes time, so start in the morning and plan accordingly. You don’t need to sit by the fridge while it’s cooling, but it does need to sit in there a few times before finishing them. I’d imagine there would be less time if some cream was omitted.
• This recipe will give you about 20 truffles. If you go smaller, you can easily get 40. I used a big scoop so they came out a little bigger than I was planning, but it’s ok. Why?
• Like a boss.

This is exceedingly simple. I’m not saying that to try and instill confidence in you either like all the other times I say it. I’m seriously, 100%, without a doubt telling you that if my kid could reach the microwave, he could probably make truffles. I’m just sayin’. The only thing is that it takes time. So patience is needed.

• Get a microwave safe bowl (I prefer glass), and put the candy melts in.

• In a pot, put your cream and turn the stove to medium-high. You’re waiting for it to start steaming. And by waiting for it, I mean waiting for it. Don’t put the cream on the heat and then turn around to wash your dishes. I did that once too and just like the Great Microwave Incident of 2011, I don’t like to talk about it.

• When it starts steaming good, pour it over the candy melts and let it sit for a few minutes. After a few, start stirring it carefully.

• It might not seem like it, but eventually it will get incorporated. When it’s nice and smooth, congratulations, you made ganache.

• Once it does incorporate, just set it aside and wait for it to cool a bit before tossing it in the fridge for about 2 hours.

This is where the patience starts coming into play. You need to let it cool. When it cools, it solidifies and that’s how you need to work with it to make truffles. So go do your dishes, take a walk, play some Destiny, whatever. Just let it chillax.

• Next, get yourself a nice size tray and slap some parchment paper on it. Get the chilled ganache out along with a cookie scoop. Remember, mine was pretty big and made truffles that could take 2 good bites. I think truffles are typically about half this size but hey, I didn’t hear anyone complaining. #boss

• What you’re doing now is just scooping out portions. Don’t worry about how they look or anything else. Just scoop out the ganache, line they up on the parchment, and then stick the tray in the fridge again. Patience!

• While they’re in there for the next hour or so (patience!), get your graham crackers and crush them up. You could put them in a food processor if you want to dirty something up. Or just do like I do and pound them out with a rolling pin. Put the crushed crackers in a bowl, and wait some more for the truffles to chill.

• When they’re ready, get your mini marshmallows and put them where they’re easily accessible. take out the ganache, get some gloves on (trust me), and get your hands dirty.

• Make an indentation and put a marshmallow or two, fold it up, and roll them into balls with your palms. You have to be quick because the longer they’re out, the hotter they get. The hotter they get, the harder they are to work with. Having them cold is key. If you have to, put them back in the fridge for a bit in between.  House elves love to help with this part.

• Once they’re rolled up, guess what? Back in the fridge! For how long? Eh, about 30 minutes is fine. They’re going to be going in chocolate so you don’t want them falling apart there. Probably be better in the freezer for a bit but I didn’t try it.

• So when they’re close to coming out, get your chocolate in another microwavable bowl and melt it the way you melt chocolate… You do know how to melt chocolate, I hope. 45 second intervals, 50% power? Yeah, I thought so.

• Once melted, get your rolled up ganache from the fridge. You should have the chocolate, crushed graham crackers, ganache, and an extra tray with parchment along with an ice cream scoop set up in front of you.

The ice cream scoop is used to apply the chocolate. You’re meant to dip it in, and get a coating of chocolate on the scoop. Not a puddle, but a coating. Then you take the ganache and roll it around the scoop so you could get a thin coat of chocolate on it. The main event should be what’s inside the truffle, not a crazy thick chocolate layer.

Here is where I started getting annoyed with the consistency of my ganache. I couldn’t roll it because they were a little too soft even out of the fridge. I could’ve put them in the freezer, yeah. Maybe it would’ve made a difference. But either way, as I said, it didn’t hurt the end product. There was just a little more chocolate coating on them than there should have been.

• Anyway, get a good coat on your ganache, and immediately drop it in the crushed graham cracker. Roll it around and dredge it there, then leave it for a few while it sets in there good. Meanwhile, repeat the process. I had two truffles in the crackers at a time. When the third went on, I removed the first one that went in. It’s an easy process, don’t stress about it.

• When you take the truffles out of the graham crackers, place them on the sheet tray. When you’re done, put them in the fridge to set one.. last… time.

And that’s that. Congratulations, you made truffles! And pretty addicting ones at that.

I wasn’t exaggerating before. The flavor explosion that happens in your mouth when you have s’mores is one of my absolute favorite flavors ever.

Being able to play with those flavors, make them and experience them in different ways is immensely gratifying.

So I have to give a thanks to Wilton for giving me the inspiration to play with the ideas of shot glass s’mores and s’mores truffles these past 2 years.

So make these. And when they’re done, take one outside, raise it up high, and say “peace out, summer!” and proceed to stuff your face with some awesomeness.