Dark Chocolate Mocha Truffles

Two things you can never go wrong with are coffee and chocolate... And when they're together, even better! I've been making these truffles a few times a year for the last 25 years, and they're still a family favorite! These truffles are so rich and bursting with creamy coffee flavor!

you'll need the following ingredients to make your own scrumptious truffles:

48oz semi sweet chocolate chips, for the ganache center

16oz cream cheese, softened (Just take it out of the fridge 20 minutes before you start the project)

1/2 cup instant coffee powder

1/4 cup water

48 oz chocolate chips (milk chocolate, semi sweet, dark, or a mix) for coating; used in last 2 steps

If for some strange reason, you don't want to make 200 bite sized mouthfuls of happiness, here are the measurements for making a batch that's half the size of the one above: (the directions/procedures for making them will all still be the same for a small batch)

24oz semi sweet chocolate chips, for the ganache center

8oz cream cheese, softened (Just take it out of the fridge 20 minutes before you start the project)

1/4 cup instant coffee powder

2 Tablespoons water

24 oz chocolate chips- (milk chocolate, semi sweet or dark) for coating; used in last 2 steps

In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the cream cheese, instant coffee, and water. Leave the mixture in the mixer, as you'll be coming right back to it.

Now, melt the chocolate for the center. I prefer not to use the microwave to melt chocolate. Instead, I bring a pot of water to a boil, then set a bowl with the chocolate chips over the pot. As the chocolate melts, use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl and stir.

As soon as the chocolate is melted, pour the melted chocolate into the cream cheese mixture, and mix on medium speed until thoroughly incorporated.

Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Spread the mixture out evenly. You'll want it to be about an inch thick. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. If the chocolate is going to be chilling for more than a few hours before you get to it, do yourself a favor and cover it! Plastic wrap is great! If you don't cover it, your truffles will end up tasting like all of the things you forgot were in your fridge. :)

Make sure you spread the mixture BEFORE you refrigerate it! If you put the bowl in the fridge, you'll end up with a hardened mass of chocolate, making it incredibly difficult to portion out for truffles later...

Once the chocolate mixture has chilled, we'll cut them into squares that are about 1×1inch. You can probably see that the lines in the picture arent perfectly straight and that some pieces are bigger than others, so there's no need to pull out your ruler here. And definitely hide the scale...

Now we separate the pieces, and roll them. Using your fingers, sort of pinch the corners in to round the shape a bit. Then using both your hands, roll the piece of chocolate quickly to make a ball. The slower you work, the faster it will melt, and then the messier your hands will get. I find it extremely helpful to keep most of the squares in the fridge and take them out 20 at a time, to keep them all from warming up too much before I work with them. Once they're all rolled out, they can go right back on that cookie sheet in the fridge to think about all the damage they're about to do.

Using the same heating method as in step 3, melt the second portion of chocolate chips. While you're waiting for it to heat up, prepare a cookie sheet or two with parchment paper, and take the truffle balls out of the fridge.

Once the chocolate is melted, work quickly to drop the truffle balls, one or two at a time, into the melted chocolate. Leave them there only long enough to be covered in chocolate. 5-7 seconds is ideal. More than that, and the truffles will start melting. Using a fork, lift the truffle out of the chocolate. To smooth out any bumps that may be on top, and to conserve chocolate, tap the handle of the fork on the edge of the bowl before transferring the truffle to the cookie sheet.

Let the truffles harden slowly at room temperature. Once they're set up enough to touch, it's safe to refrigerate them. (If they go into the fridge too soon, they could lose that shine, and get a cloudy, murky look.)

Your truffles are finished! Seriously, who ate them all?! When we do make enough to gift, we wrap them in foil candy wrappers, or set them in cute little gift boxes. They also store really well, so they ship to long-distance friends and relatives too!

Thanks so much for reading this instructable, y'all- Feel free to add comments/questions down below!