Tag Archives: truffle

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Cinnalmond Bites and a Giveaway!!

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Hey, guys!

I’m super excited to share this recipe today because it comes with a giveaway for the cookbook No Bake Makery, for you! Though it doesn’t happen as often as I’d like, I love an opportunity to give you stuff. I’m a gifter and I love it. BUT! let’s talk these little cookie, truffle bites.

These little bites are dead-easy to make. Everything gets whirled in the food processor all at once–chocolate cookies, cinnamon toast cereal, almonds, salt, a teensy bit of milk, and some honey.  The dough is then scooped, rolled, and chilled before getting dressed with some candy coating (or tempered chocolate). These bites are sweet-sweet-and-salty. I could see kids going crazy-nuts for these (and they could totally help!), but they make the perfect two-bite indulgence–which is sometimes all I want, just a few bites of sweetness.

No Bake Makery is a cookbook of sweet little treats by Cristina Suarez Krumsick (Tweet or Like), in the book you can find the recipe for these Cinnalmond Bites, along with dozens of other little, two-bite, no-bake treats…Now, for the giveaway details!

To enter, simply leave a comment sharing what your favorite no-bake treats are, as well as a good contact email address. I will choose one winner at random Wednesday, May 15th. Unfortunately this giveaway is only open to US residents with non-PO Box addresses.  (Don’t fret, I have another giveaway schemed up that will be open to all :)

*A copy of No Bake Makery was provided to me by the publisher, as well as the giveaway copy. As per usual, all opinions are my own. 

Cinnalmond Bites

From No Bake Makery

The recipe calls for almond milk, but I’m sure you could use whatever milk you’d like. These are also great from the freezer. 

12 chocolate sandwich cookies (Like JoesJoes or Oreos)

1 cup cinnamon toast cereal

5 tablespoons sliced almonds

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup almond milk

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 1/2 cups candy melts or candy bark (or temper some chocolate, if you dare)

Line a cookie sheet with wax (or parchment) paper and set aside.

In a food processor, process the cookies and cereal until fine crumbs form, about 1 minute. Add 3 tablespoons of the almonds and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon and process for another 30 seconds. Add the honey and almonds milk and process another 30 seconds. Transfer to a clean bowl.

Roll the dough into 1-inch balls (I chilled the dough for 30 minutes before beginning this step). Place on the prepared cookie sheet and chill another 45 minutes.

Roughly chop the remaining almonds and mix with the remaining cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

Melt the candy coating according to package instructions. Dip balls into the chocolate and place back on the sheet, sprinkle with almond mixture, and chill until coating is set, about 1 hour.

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Recipe: Candy Cane Truffles

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Do you like candy canes? I never seem to get through a whole one, even when I was a kid. I would just suck on it until the end became sharp and spikey…then I would prod and torment my little brother with it.

Candy Canes…so sweet, so dangerous.

I do, however, like them crushed up so they become minty, crunchy, candy-cane-y sprinkles. That’s the best way to eat a candy cane in my opinion, sprinkled over some other sweet treat. Can you even believe I had to go to 2 different stores to find plain, old, peppermint canes?! The first store only sold those fruity, sour ones–they told me they weren’t even going to sell the traditional kind this year! I was baffled and told anyone that would listen all about it. They did sell pre-crushed candy canes in the baking section, but they cost way more than broken pieces of candy should. Like double the cost for half the amount of canes in a regular box. What the heck?! So, I went to a different store, got my canes, and smashed them with a mallet. Cost effective and stress relieving.

I’ve been planning on making these truffles for weeks now so I could stir them into a glass of hot milk for instant hot chocolate, but I’ve been waiting for our first snow and now that it’s here, it’s truffle hot chocolate time. I cut them into little cubes instead of rolling them into balls, it’s a quicker, easier process this way…plus, I think the little cubes are just so dang pretty.

And, I like pretty.

Candy Cane Truffle Hot Chocolate

I originally saw the idea to make truffles for hot chocolate here on Pinterest. These can be stirred into a cup of hot milk for a festive, warm beverage, or simply eaten as is. This recipe can be easily doubled, tripled, etc…just remember 2 parts chocolate to 1 part heavy cream. Viola! Truffle ganache! 

4 ounces heavy cream

8 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate (chopped or chips)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

3 candy canes, crushed

hot milk (6-8 ounces per serving)

Line a small loaf pan with parchement, set aside.

Place the chocolate in a medium bowl and set aside. Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium-low heat to scald (just before it boils, there will be little bubbles around the edges of the pan). Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and cover (I just used a plate to cover my bowl) and allow to sit for about 5 minutes. Remove cover and stir vigouroulsy until smooth. Stir in vanilla and peppermint extracts until combined. If not all of the chocolate pieces are smooth and melted, fashion a double boiler out of a saucepan of simmering water and a heatproof bowl, gently heat chocolate mixture until smooth.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the loaf pan and smooth top. Sprinkle with candy cane pieces and allow to cool to room temperature. Chill in the refrigerator until firm, about 30-60 minutes. Remove truffle from the pan and cut into cubes.

To make hot chocolate: Heat some milk in a pan or in the microwave. Place truffles into mugs (1-2 pieces per cup) and pour milk over the top. Stir. Top with whipped cream and more candy cane sprinkles as desired.