Cranberry Red Wine Truffles

Dark chocolate, red wine, dried cranberries, and cream cheese join together to make this special holiday treat. Perfect for a holiday dessert table or holiday gift, these lovely truffles will delight the chocolate lovers in your life. In the recipe I included instructions both for the molded chocolates as shown and for the more common round truffles that require no mold. If you want to go the molded route, get a very flexible silicon mold. I’ve included a link to the one I used below.

Twice a year my artsy yoga friends and I have a big event we call “Wine & Design”. One of my yoga friends owns a furniture store, so she also does a big furniture sale and hosts the event. It’s a private event where we serve free wine & I make the food. We’ve done it six times and it’s SO fun. Every time I learn something new. This year I tried to curb my urge to overdo on the food and “only” made three kinds of truffles, three kinds of fudge, caramel nut clusters, English toffee, plus three entree choices. For the first time ever, I actually came out ahead on the deal. People always ask me at this event if I cater, but while it is tempting, I have to tell them no, this is the only event that I do. For the amount of work I put into making all the food, I am paid well less than minimum wage. It is not for the money that I do this … it is for the sheer joy of the event and the happiness at seeing everyone enjoying the food that I serve.

This was one of my new creations for this year and oh, was it a hit. I only have a few of these lovely truffles left and I am not sharing them with anyone. These last few truffles are mine to enjoy. The cranberries with the dark chocolate and red wine are divine … the texture of the filling with the chocolate outside is sooo perfect. Please, choose a really good dark chocolate for this recipe. I used Gharardelli because it’s the quality chocolate that is readily available here. The little splurge for the good chocolate is oh so worth it.

Dark Chocolate Cranberry Red Wine Truffles

• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: About 24 truffles 1x

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Ingredients

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For the filling:

• 4 oz. Greek cream cheese (or Neufchatel), softened
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup dark chocolate melting wafers (or dark chocolate, chopped), melted

For coating:

• About 2 cups dark chocolate melting wafers

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Instructions

1. In a handi chopper or mini food processor, blend together the cream cheese, cranberries, wine, vanilla and melted chocolate until smooth. Put in a covered container and refrigerate until firm.
2. If you are using a mold, melt some chocolate and pour a spoonful into each spot. Tap the mold firmly on the table a few times on the table to release any air bubbles in the chocolate.
3. Using a new paintbrush (one that has not been used for paint), “paint” the chocolate up the sides of the mold so that the sides are coated well. Set in the refrigerator to cool. When the chocolate is set, make a small ball of the filling and smush it into each spot of the mold, filling the chocolate mold almost all the way to the top, but leaving a little space to “seal” the chocolates.
4. Pour a little more melted chocolate over the top of each spot in the mold and tap again to smooth out the chocolate, Use the paintbrush if needed to cover the bottom completely with chocolate. Again, set the chocolates in the fridge for a bit to firm up the chocolate. When the chocolate is completely set, release the truffles from the mold by pressing upwards on the bottom of each truffle.
5. If not using a mold: form the truffle filling into a ball and dip each ball in chocolate, rolling around to coat it completely. Grab with a small fork and tap a little to let some of the excess chocolate fall back into the bowl. Set each truffle on a silicon baking mat or a baking sheet covered with waxed paper and set in the fridge until the chocolate is set.

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Notes

Total time does not include cooling time for the truffles.

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

© Copyright 2015, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.

This recipe was shared at Foodie Friends Friday, What to Do Weekends and Weekend Potluck.