Christmas Notebook

I have a board on Pinterest that is just for truffle recipes. I pin other recipes there, too, that I think might work for truffles. This recipe for Cherry Fudge is one of those recipes. The picture on the web site ShugarySweets.com was so inviting. They looked delicious. Here’s what I ended up with.

Cherry Fudge Truffles

• 2 1/2 cup white chocolate, chipped into small pieces
• 7-oz jar marshmallow cream
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• pinch salt
• 1 Tbsp cherry flavored gelatin
• 1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped finely

For dipping:

• 16 oz. dark chocolate or candy wafers, melted
• almond bark
• pink gel food coloring for tinting almond bark

Snow White gave me a little help with chipping the white chocolate bars.

Place white chocolate and marshmallow cream in a mixing bowl. No need to stir it at this point.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter with sugar, cream and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.

Add cherry gelatin and boil for five minutes. Remove from heat.

Pour hot mixture over the chocolate and marshmallow cream and beat with whisk attachment until smooth and creamy. When all chocolate is melted, fold in dried cherries.

Pour in a greased 9-inch pan. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.

The fudge will be too stiff to use a scoop. I used a baby spoon and broke off small pieces.

Wearing gloves, I rolled the pieces into balls. It worked well.

Dip the truffles into melted chocolate. Top with a pink design or sprinkles. I used white candy coating tinted with pink gel food coloring to make the pink topping.

If you have dipping chocolate left over, spread it on a piece of aluminum foil. When it hardens, break it into chunks and store it in a jar or a zippered plastic bag. Mark it with the date so you know how old it is when you pull it from the pantry one day. This chocolate can be chipped and put into cookies, melted and used for dipping, or cut into squares that are perfect for S’mores.

This recipe is a keeper. When I made it this first time, I did not chop the dried cherries. Next time I will. It was in the fridge for about 24 hours. Too hard to scoop, but it worked fine for rolling. Next time, I think I’ll try it after an hour or two in the fridge and see if it can be scooped at that point.

~~Rhonda