French Holiday Truffles

Rich and elegant chocolate truffles are perfect as a special dessert or an impressive gift.

Recipe Ingredients:

1/3 cup whipping cream
8 ounces semisweet baking chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup butter, softened
Unsweetened cocoa
Powdered sugar
Chocolate and/or vanilla candy coating, melted, if desired

Cooking Directions:

1. Heat whipping cream and chocolate in 2-quart saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until chocolate melts (7 to 9 minutes). Remove from heat. Stir in butter until melted. Cover; refrigerate until firm (at least 2 hours).
2. Dust hands with cocoa or powdered sugar. Working quickly, shape 2 teaspoonfuls mixture into balls; roll in cocoa or powdered sugar. (Truffle mixture will be soft; repeat dusting hands to make shaping easier or use small ice cream scoop to form balls.) Refrigerate until firm (at least 45 minutes).
3. To coat truffles, use spoon or toothpick to dip truffles into melted candy coating; let excess drip off. Place dipped truffles on waxed paper until coating is hard. Drizzle dipped truffles with melted candy coating, if desired. Store truffles in tightly covered container in refrigerator.

Makes 24 truffles.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (1/24 of recipe): Calories: 120, Fat: 10 g, Cholesterol: 15 mg, Sodium: 35 mg, Carbohydrates: 10 g, Dietary Fiber: 1 g, Protein: 1 g.