These homemade chocolate truffles are extra creamy with the addition of butter. After mixing the 4 ingredients together, let the mixture set in the refrigerator, then roll into balls. Follow this homemade truffles recipe and the helpful video tutorial below!
Making homemade chocolate truffles couldn’t be easier and after watching the video tutorial below, you’ll agree with excitement! They come together faster then even homemade peanut butter eggs. Homemade truffles are the perfect quick & easy treat for holidays and I’m right here to guide you along. Ditch the boxed chocolates!
Chocolate lovers, rejoice. 🙂
Chocolate truffles are a deeply indulgent chocolate treat made from chocolate and cream. They’re essentially balls of chocolate ganache. And great news: they sound so much fancier than they are to make!
If you’re making these around Valentine’s Day, I love coating them in pink and red sprinkles. Pair with Valentine’s Day cookies and Valentine’s Day cupcakes for a trio of epic February 14 treats!
Only 2 Ingredients in Chocolate Truffles
Chocolate and heavy cream are the only ingredients in homemade chocolate truffles. However, I add 2 extra ingredients for texture and flavor. These extras will turn your regular truffles into the BEST CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES. And after writing an entire cookbook on truffles and candy recipes, I know that’s a fact!
- Chocolate: 8 ounces of pure chocolate is the base of chocolate truffles. Do not use chocolate chips because they will not melt into truffle consistency. Chocolate chips are great for recipes like chocolate chip cookies where we want the chips to stay mostly intact, but here want to reach for pure chocolate. Pure chocolate is sold in 4 ounce bars in the baking aisle. Use milk chocolate for sweeter truffles or semi-sweet/dark chocolate for extra rich truffles. If using milk chocolate, reduce the cream to 1/2 cup as milk chocolate is much softer than dark chocolate.
- Heavy Cream: Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream is also a base ingredient. Do not use half-and-half or any other liquid because the truffles won’t set up properly. See recipe note for a non-dairy alternative.
- Butter: 1 scant Tablespoon of softened butter transform these into the creamiest truffles you will ever taste. You will never go back!
- Vanilla Extract: Pure vanilla extract adds exceptional flavor to your chocolate truffles.
With so few ingredients, it’s imperative to follow the recipe. After years of candy making, I find the ratio of 8 ounces of chocolate to 2/3 cup heavy cream is the most favorable. Truffles are too firm with less liquid. Stick to this recipe for truffle success!
How to Make Chocolate Truffles in 5 Steps
- Warm Cream: Pour warm cream over chopped chocolate.
- Do Nothing: Before stirring, let the warm cream and chocolate sit in the bowl for a few minutes. Don’t touch it!
- Stir: Stir until the chocolate is melted.
- Refrigerate: Refrigerate until the mixture is set, about 1-2 hours.
- Roll: Roll into balls and coat in toppings like sprinkles, cocoa powder, or crushed nuts. You can also dip the truffles in melted or tempered chocolate. See my dark chocolate coconut rum truffles post for a video on how to do so. And I have an in-depth explanation for tempered chocolate in Sally’s Candy Addiction if you have a copy.
Sticky Situation: These are extra creamy truffles, which are the most delicious variety. The downside to creamy truffles is that they’re sticky to roll. You can wear rubber gloves or coat your hands in cocoa powder, but here is my #1 trick and it makes rolling SO MUCH EASIER. Scoop the truffle mixture into mounds on a lined baking sheet. (Pictured above.) Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes so the mounds “dry out.” After that, they are a little less sticky to roll. You can watch me do this in the video tutorial.
Troubleshooting Truffles
Even though there are so few ingredients and steps, a couple mishaps can happen. Let me help you troubleshoot through the chocolate truffle recipe.
- The chocolate won’t melt: One trick for successful truffles is to chop the chocolate into very small pieces. The finer the chocolate chunks, the quicker they’ll melt. Additionally, the chocolate might not melt because the cream is not hot enough. Make sure it is simmering warm before pouring over the chocolate. If the chocolate still isn’t melting, place the heat-proof bowl over a pot of 1 inch of simmering water and stir until melted. I usually do this.
- The ganache won’t thicken: Make sure you are using pure chocolate, not chocolate chips, and heavy cream. You can also pour the mixture into a shallow dish so it thickens quicker. And finally, keep it in the refrigerator until thickened.
- The chocolate is greasy and separating: If the truffle mixture is greasy or separating, the heavy cream was too hot.
- The truffle mixture is too sticky: See “Sticky Situation” above.
- Rolled truffles are too dry for toppings: Mash the truffle between your palms and re-roll so it’s sticky enough for the toppings.
By the way, if you love chocolate truffles, you will flip for these peanut butter balls and Oreo balls.
See Your Recipe Success!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge!
Homemade Chocolate Truffles Recipe
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: 20-24 truffles
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Shaping
- Cuisine: American
Description
These homemade chocolate truffles are extra creamy with the addition of butter. After mixing the ingredients together, let the mixture set in the refrigerator, then roll into balls. You can coat in your favorite toppings and add lots of fun flavors, too! The mixture gets a little sticky, so refer back to my tips in the blog post above.
Ingredients
- two 4-ounce quality chocolate bars (226g), very finely chopped*
- 2/3 cup (160ml) heavy cream*
- optional: 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- optional: 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- toppings: unsweetened cocoa powder, sprinkles, crushed nuts, melted or tempered chocolate
Instructions
- Place the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Set aside.
- Heat the heavy cream until it is simmering. You can heat it on the stove or in the microwave.
- Add the butter, if using, to the chocolate and pour the heavy cream evenly on top. Let the warm cream and chocolate sit for 5 minutes minutes. Add the vanilla extract then stir until the chocolate has completely melted. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface (to avoid condensation) and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Tip: Pour into a flat shallow dish, such as a 8×8 inch baking pan, so the mixture evenly and quickly sets.
- Scoop the set truffle mixture into 2 teaspoon-sized mounds. This cookie scoop is the perfect size. For larger truffles, 1 Tablespoon size mounds. Roll each into balls. This gets a little sticky, so see my tips above.
- Roll each into toppings, if desired. Truffles taste best at room temperature!
- Cover tightly and store truffles at room temperature for 3-4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: For longer storage, freeze up to 3 months with or without toppings. Thaw in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature, if desired, before enjoying.
- Make Ahead Instructions: Prepare the truffle mixture through step 3. The mixture must chill in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours or up to 3 days. If chilling for longer than 4ish hours, let the mixture sit on the counter for several minutes to soften into scoop-able consistency.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Small Cookie Scoop | 8×8 Pan (optional but helpful when chilling the chocolate mixture)
- Chocolate: Use pure chocolate, the kind sold in 4 ounce bars in the baking aisle. Do not use chocolate chips. The higher quality chocolate you purchase, the better your truffles will taste. I love Baker’s or Ghirardelli brands. If you want to splurge, Scharffen Berger is exceptional! Semi-sweet or dark chocolate make a very intense chocolate truffle and milk chocolate yields a sweeter truffle. If using milk chocolate, reduce the cream to 1/2 cup as milk chocolate is much softer than dark chocolate. Do not use white chocolate in this recipe because it’s too thin. Here is a white chocolate truffles recipe to use instead. You can leave out the lime flavoring.
- Heavy Cream: Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream is the only liquid that will melt the chocolate into the proper truffle consistency. Do not use half-and-half or milk. The only non-dairy substitute is canned full-fat coconut milk (not the refrigerated kind). Shake it up and use in the recipe as you would heavy cream.
- Butter and Vanilla Extract: Both are optional, but butter makes truffles extra creamy and vanilla extract adds wonderful flavor.
- Flavors: Instead of vanilla extract, use 1/2 teaspoon or 1 teaspoon (depending how strong of a flavor you want) raspberry, coconut, orange, peppermint, or strawberry extract. Or leave out the extract and add 1-2 Tablespoons of your favorite liqueur. I also have hazelnut truffles and key lime truffles recipes too!
- Halved/Doubled: Recipe can easily be halved, but I do not recommend doubling. Instead, make 2 separate batches.
Keywords: chocolate truffles
If I freeze these without toppings, can I then roll in toppings when defrosted? Or is it best to freeze with toppings?
Hi Linda, you can freeze them with or without the toppings. If freezing without, let them come back to room temperature before attempting to roll in the toppings. Enjoy!
What if I use 100% cacao that is not sweetened? Do I add honey to sweeten it up?
Hi Sharon, you can usually taste the sugar granules when using unsweetened chocolate + adding sugar to the mix, and honey may throw off the texture of the truffles as well. Unfortunately, we don’t have a successful solution for you but let us know if you test anything. We always have the best luck using semi-sweet chocolate here.
Ive made these for my valentines & its perfect! My whole family loves it. Its pretty, cute & delicious
★★★★★
I have made this recipe many times and it is great every time.
★★★★★
I made these for my 90 year old Step-Dad. He doesn’t like anything, always finding something wrong with anything I make for him. Well, he LOVED these! He said they were the creamiest, best tasting, smoothest truffles he has ever had. Success! I’m so happy and I wanted to thank you for a wonderful recipe. I followed it exactly and then let my granddaughters do the decorating.
★★★★★
That sounds like a major win, Becky! Thanks for the feedback.:)
I am going to try this. Can you use lindor chocolate or galaxy or is it just bakong chocolate? Also how many calories are in this please.
Hi Jade, Lindor chocolate should be fine. We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Hi! I don’t have raspberry extract and was wondering if strained raspberry persevere could work as a flavoring?
Hi Kait, we haven’t tried using strained preserves instead of liquid extracts or liqueurs, so aren’t sure how it would turn out. If you try it, please report back on the results!
Hi Sally! I love this recipe and will be making it for a second year in a row with my family again for Valentine’s Day! I would like to add some white chocolate truffles to the mix this year too. I followed your link to your white chocolate key lime truffles and am wondering: if I want to make plain white chocolate truffles do I need to substitute a different liquid for the 1 tablespoon of lime juice or will the recipe be ok if I just omit the lime juice? Thanks so much!
Hi Karen, you can just leave out the lime juice, no need to substitute another liquid. Enjoy!
Whoops! I was in a hurry and didn’t read the recipe notes, so I ended up using the full 2/3 cup of cream with milk chocolate…will they set up at all? I’m intending to roll the truffles and then dip them in melted chocolate to form a shell, so I’m hoping it will be salvageable as a filling…would you recommend popping them in the freezer for a few minutes right before dipping, or would that ruin the chocolate? Any advice would be appreciated!
Hi Erin, we should probably make that note a bit more obvious, as many people don’t read the recipe notes! They should still be OK, but on the soft side. As long as you refrigerate them for long enough, they should be OK to roll and dip. If dipping in melted chocolate, make sure it’s not too hot. You can try putting them in the freezer for a few minutes before dipping, too. Hope they turn out well!
Thank you for this recipe and the Vegan option with coconut milk. Looking forward to trying that. I’ve been using this as the centers for my Chocolate Mochi.
I like to use Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Pound Plus Bar and weigh out 8 oz. I’ve also been heating it all in the microwave with great success. Less dishes! I pour the mixture into a square glass container and cut into squares after it solidifies in the fridge. Dust them with cocoa and super easy truffle squares 🙂
I’m making these and the ganache isn’t smooth, it looks like overmixed cake batter. the cream didnt melt the chocolate so I put it over a double boiler and it ended up like this. I kept it over the bain marie and kept mixing and it still won’t go smooth.
Hi Amelia! Are you using pure chocolate and heavy cream? Both are key to these truffles melting smoothly and setting up properly. Chocolate chips won’t melt smoothly.
I just made these and they are super runny… they didn’t stay in a mound they spread out… can I fix this?
Hi Krista! Did you use heavy cream? Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream is the only liquid that will melt the chocolate into the proper truffle consistency. Do not use half-and-half or milk.
Hi, I was wondering if I could use Ghirardelli chocolate chips instead of a chocolate bar?
Hi Jessica, Chocolate chips contain stabilizers that prevent them from melting completely in cookies, cakes, etc. Unfortunately, that means they won’t melt into the proper consistency for treats like truffles and ganache. Sometimes, high quality chocolate chips like Ghirardelli will work, but it’s really best to stick with pure baking chocolate bars here if possible!
I would love to make your truffles but not sure I understand the quality chocolate in 4oz bars. What type of chocolate is this your referring to ?
Hi Jill! Use pure chocolate, the kind sold in 4 ounce bars in the baking aisle. See recipe notes for more details – enjoy!
Have used this recipe several times already and love it! Question; instead of letting the truffles set in a pan in fridge, can we pour directly into mounds and let them set that way? Also, do you have favorite brand of molds you use? I have seen so many and realized only some work with this recipe.
★★★★★
Hi Kristen, you can pour into your silicone molds. Dust the mold with cocoa powder if you’re nervous about sticking
Great truffle base, and the recipe is very easy to follow! I tried a couple of the suggested toppings, and wanted to add two others that were big hits with my friends and family last Valentine’s Day…chocolate vermicelli (looks like sprinkles but waaaay better flavor…they’re chocolate) and packaged freeze-dried raspberries that I ground to almost a powder. The first is amazing for chocolate lovers, and people loved the tart/sweet combination of the raspberry powder.
question! can i substitute a few ingredients? like butter with coconut oil? vanilla with coconut extract? and can i add shredded coconut into the mix? i want to make coconut balls (similar to mounds choocolate)
Hi Kristina, some readers have had success swapping the butter with coconut oil. For a coconut flavored truffle, we recommend using this dark chocolate coconut truffle recipe instead (see recipe Notes there on an alcohol-free version). Or you might like these no-bake coconut snowballs, too.
Is there a candy recipe you recommend that would work for sending in care packages?
Thank you!
Hi Jamie, homemade candy can be a bit tricky to keep well in care packages (depending on the length of shipping). But these homemade soft caramel candies can be left at room temperature for up to two weeks and would be a good option. Let us know if you give them a try!
IS THERE A PERCENT DARK CHOCOLATE THAT SHOULD BE USED?
Hi Ann, whatever you prefer! Semi-sweet or dark chocolate make a very intense chocolate truffle and milk chocolate yields a sweeter truffle.
Like some other comments, mine were too soft to roll. I tried everything suggested and nothing worked”z They tasted good but I couldn’t use them for truffles.
★★
I had to throw mine out. Left the balls in the fridge for hours and even tried freezing them and would not hold together. Very disappointed
★
Love this recipe! Question: if the chocolate separates, I saw your comment about why it happens , but will the it still thicken properly? Currently in this predicament – should have read the comments first!
★★★★★
Was it a layer of butter separating from the chocolate? If so, reheating and stirring the entire separated mixture in a double boiler or in a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water will help bring it all back together.
I tried this recipe without the butter and vanilla extract, and the chocolate curdled when I melted it in my opinion, you need butter to melt chocolate to a smooth consistency. I used my Nutra bullet to crash pistachios and rolls of the balls in salted pistachios. They are delicious.
★★★★
True Ganache is made with no butter. Just chocolate and cream. If it curdled or separated maybe your cream was too hot or you mixed it too much. There are several reasons why that happens
Salted or unsalted butter?
Recipe notes say unsalted! I just had to recheck also.
Can I use melting chocolate that I use to make other home made chocolates? Specifically Merkens melting wafers.
That should be just fine in this recipe.
Hi Sally,
Interested in an espresso / coffee truffle – how would you incorporate that into this recipe? Do you have any flavor examples you’ve done? Mint? Coffee etc.
Thanks in advance!
Hi Aidan, we would add some espresso powder to the cream that you simmer on the stove. 2 teaspoons would be great.
Hi Sally,
Any advice on making a filled truffle? I’ve got some ideas rolling around in my head like loose marbles but thought I’d ask the expert herself.
Thanks for all you do!
Whitney
Hi Whitney! You know, I’ve never been great at filled truffles usually just stick to plain ones. If you find a great method/recipe for one, let me know! I’ve made filled chocolates before using a candy mold, but not filled truffles.
You can let scooped and rolled ganache sit out at room temperature overnight to develop a bit of a dry “skin.” Then you can dip them into tempered chocolate (the chocolate must be properly tempered if you want it to create a firm outer layer.) I put them on a spoon coated with tempered chocolate and use my fingers to coat each one well but quickly. Then you can transfer to a sheet of wax paper or a silicone mat to firm up. Add any decoration like a few sprinkles before the chocolate hardens. These have a much more rustic look than molded truffles, but they’re delicious. And their lumpy shape is actually where the name “truffle” originally came from. I have used this technique with this recipe before, and they were great.