Coconut Irish Cream Truffles

“IF NOT FOR CHOCOLATE, THERE WOULD BE NO NEED FOR CONTROL TOP PANTYHOSE.  AN ENTIRE GARMENT INDUSTRY WOULD BE DEVASTATED.”    Author unknown

I have been wanting to make some form of candy for some time now.  What better way to start than with TRUFFLES!!!  I had a few fits and starts.  The first batch a few weeks ago to include my old nemesis the strawberry….turned out like bubble gum!  And today, though the cream center had set quite nicely….I initially scooped them out a little bit large!  And after rolling the first few in chocolate and then coconut…..well they ended up looking more like meatballs than truffles!  (Hey!  I’m all for eating a Coconut Irish Cream Meatball!!!)

The recipe really is quite easy and you can make them any size you’d like …….

IRISH CREAM CENTER:

16 oz of Ghirardelli white chocolate chips

3 oz heavy cream

3 oz Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur

Very simply, melt the chips in a large glass bowl over a pan of simmering water, being careful that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.  As soon as the chocolate is melted, remove from heat and whisk in the cream and the Bailey’s and pour into an 8 inch glass baking dish.  Cover with saran and refrigerate for 24 hours.  When you are getting ready to assemble them, scoop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto a baking tray lined with parchment.  After you have scooped them all, roll them into balls and put the tray into the refrigerator to firm up at least another half hour to an hour.  This part can also be prepped a day in advance.

CHOCOLATE COATING and COCONUT ROLLING PROCESS:

16 oz Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips

14 oz bag of Bakers shredded coconut

Melt the chocolate using the same format as above.  Whisk until it is smooth and creamy.  Spread the coconut onto a baking sheet, separating any clumps with your fingers.  Take the chilled Irish Cream balls out of the refrigerator.  Using a fork, dip them one at a time into the chocolate and then drop them into the coconut.  Sprinkle a little coconut on the top and lightly roll from  one side of the pan to the other.  Let it sit for a minute while you do a few more.  Remove the balls that have been sitting in coconut to a wire rack.  Repeat the process until all are coated.  I used two forks, one for dipping into chocolate, another for lifting the coconut covered balls to the wire rack.  I also changed dipping forks several times if the coating became too thick on the fork.  I also kept the pan of water simmering on the stove and occasionally set the bowl of dipping chocolate on top to stir and loosen it up if it became too thick.  Gently remove the truffles from the rack into small paper cups and refrigerate.  Bring to room temperature before serving.

These were made *raise* specially for my boss *raise* who doesn’t like coconut *raise*

No subliminal messages above, but I made a few without coconut for my boss!  I would like to tell you that he’s an amazing person, but really, how amazing can anyone be if they don’t like coconut!  What I did instead was to scoop out a few teaspoons of the Irish Cream center mixture into another glass bowl.  At the end, I set the bowl over the simmering pan of water to melt the chocolate and using a fork, I drizzled it over a few plain chocolate dipped truffles.  I actually think it looked pretty! 

I know that I will try these again in many variations.  But I am pretty pleased at how they turned out today!  No matter what combinations you choose to make….I hope you will enjoy them!