Dulce de Leche and Ginger Truffles

Food is love.  I think when anyone goes out of their way to cook or bake for you, there is love.  I know that I enjoy food more when someone else has prepared it for me. My favorite dish, Pastel de Papa, is an Argentinian type of Shepherd’s Pie.  My mom made it perfect every time.  It was my birthday dinner choice.  I learned to make it from her and YET mine never tastes as good as hers.  No one else’s matches my mom’s.  GRRRR…My mom is gone now but the memory stays with me.  Food is love and now that Valentine’s Day is approaching instead of buying a box of chocolates, why don’t you make some truffles for the loves in your life.  It might create an everlasting memory.

This is my original creation.  I’m almost afraid to say that because there are so many recipes out there in the world, that I might not have been the first to discover this combination.  Do you know what I mean?  I read some cookbooks and recipes in magazines.  I’m starting to look more on the internet and on Instagram but I’m not a fanatic.  I’ve never seen anything like these.  These truffles just came into my head, especially because I love gingersnaps and I love dulce de leche and I love a good white chocolate.  That was it!  I put it all together and came out with this treat.

The taste is great but I did make some mistakes along the way that I’ll share with you.  You see, I’m not much of a confectioner, just the little bits I do at Christmastime.  I think these truffles are perfect for Valentine’s Day.  As many of my recipes are, this one is pretty easy and quick, too.  These truffles are very sweet and delicious.  So, make a batch and share with your sweetie.

 

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Ingredients

1 cup Gingersnap crumbs (I used Anna’s Ginger Thins.)

1/2-2/3 cup Dulce de Leche (Look in the Mexican Food section, where the condensed milk is.)

1 Cup White Chocolate Chips (Guittard is the only chocolate I use.)

1 Tbl. Vegetable Shortening or Coconut Oil

Set some wax paper on a cookie sheet. Take 20 Gingersnaps and put in a Ziplock plastic bag.   Crush with a rolling pin until the cookies turn into small crumbs.  If you prefer, you can use a food processor for this step.  I guess I’m just old fashion.  I’d rather do it by hand.

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Add the Dulce de Leche and stir until well combined.

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Take about a tablespoon and roll into a ball.  It will be a little gooey. Use some confectioner’s sugar on your hands to help with this process.

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Put them on the wax paper and prepare the truffle coating.  Microwave the White Chocolate Chips with the Vegetable Shortening or Coconut Oil for 30 seconds at time until smooth.  Stir in between heating.  Don’t overcook.  Then just dip the truffles in the Chocolate mixture.  I used a fork to dip them.

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Once the chocolate coating had hardened, I melted a little white chocolate and drizzled over the truffles.  I didn’t use any shortening or coconut oil for the drizzle.  That’s it.

Now here is where I made my mistake.  I always see on TV or magazines that chefs will coat sweet somethings on a rack so the chocolate just drains down instead of pooling under the sweets.  So I used my cookie rack – look at the top picture.  Well, that was a total mistake! See what happened!

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I used  a knife to pry those little babies off the grid!  I had to laugh at my attempt to be so professional.  Oh well, use wax paper on a cookie sheet instead.

I hope you will try them and let me know what you think.  You could always use dark or milk chocolate for the coating.  Remember to give some away to your sweetheart.

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I hope you have a Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

 

 

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