White Chocolate Almond Amaretto Truffles

White Chocolate Almond Amaretto Truffles - Using chips to make truffles may not be traditional, but it is affordable, quick, and easy to do!

Originally Posted February 19, 2009. Updated 12/23/2020

This truffle recipe was based on one of my most popular cake recipes - the White Chocolate Amaretto cake. It was a white chocolate and amaretto cake, with a white chocolate amaretto ganache.

Absolutely delicious. The recipe is in my cakes cookbook, Evil Cake Overlord: Ridiculously Delicious Cakes. Click that link to check it out!

Anyway.

Using white chocolate chips to make truffles may not be traditional, but it is affordable, quick, and easy to do! The almonds and amaretto work well with the white chocolate - great payoff for little in cost and effort!

Though I only ever used more traditional choices for truffles I sold though my cake business, I also came up with a way for people to make truffles using regular chocolate chips.

It's a pretty unusual medium for truffle making, but they are easy to find, and lack the sticker shock that comes with the more traditional chocolate options.

Anyone can make these truffles at home, with common ingredients, for less than $5.00/30 truffles.

What is a Chocolate Truffle?

Truffles consist of two main parts - the center (white chocolate chocolate ganache), and the coating.

The ganachec center is made from just a few very basic ingredients - chocolate, cream, flavoring - in this case, amaretto - and butter.

The coating can be made from almost anything - your creativity is pretty much your only limit!

Typically, you’ll see store-bought truffles enrobed in chocolate. While that’s certainly a popular option, it does veer off into “intimidating” territory - tempering chocolate, etc.

Personally, I find tempering chocolate to be annoying. Luckily, almonds work much better with this recipe anyway - white chocolate as a coating would overwhelm the flavour of the ganache.

Making White Chocolate Ganache

White chocolate ganache is quite easy to make, but there are a few basic principles to keep in mind:

1. Too much liquid will prevent your ganache from setting up enough to roll properly.

Fairly straightforward rule, right? If this happens, try adding extra chocolate... or use your runny ganache as a chocolate fondue or sauce for ice cream!

2. Not all chocolate varieties are created equally.

While this applies to flavor, texture, and overall quality, I’m actually talking about behavior.

Dark chocolate requires more liquid than milk chocolate, which requires more liquid than white chocolate.

Sugar free chocolate requires a smaller amount of liquid than other varieties of chocolate... Please be sure to follow the basic instructions for the variety of chocolate you are using, without swapping the type. (See rule #1!)

3. Water is chocolate’s enemy.

Be very careful to use a dry bowl, dry utensils, and to not allow any water to fall into your chocolate.

Water causes melted chocolate to “seize”. Seizing is when melted chocolate comes in contact with even the tiniest amount of water, and becomes grainy, clumpy, and unpleasant.

For this reason, you should never use a lid when melting chocolate (condensation will occur, and drip in!), and you should always be careful when using a double boiler.

4. Fat amount is important.

The fat content in the chocolate ganache contributes to the smoothness, and the ganache’s ability to hold together.

Using milk instead of heavy cream really isn’t an option. Additionally, if a high percentage of the liquid is coming from a non-fatty source (liqueur, rather than cream), it’s a good idea to add extra butter.

5. Liquid added to chocolate must be warm.

Pretty basic rule - cold liquid added to melted chocolate will cause it to seize.

Warm liquid will not - this is why it’s important to heat up the cream mixture before adding it to the chocolate. Do not skip this step!

6. Chocolate chips are just fine to use.

Yes, I’m sure the purists just had a heart attack over that phrase... deal with it!

White chocolate chips are a highly unusual medium for truffle making, consistently being eschewed for bars of pure chocolate.

The thing is, however, that not only are chocolate chips are easy to find, they lack the sticker shock that comes with the more traditional chocolate options.

I find that this makes chocolate chips a far more accessible option for those who are new to making truffles.

Not only that, but they can make a great product, too - only the most avid chocolate connoisseur can really tell the difference between truffles made with a high end bar of chocolate, and those made with a good brand of chocolate chips.

For that reason, I believe chocolate chips are a great way to get in to making truffles. I developed a series of recipes using chocolate chips!

Anyone can make these truffles at home, with common ingredients, for less than $5 for 30 truffles. Far less scary of a commitment than the traditional approach!

“Stuff to Roll Them In”

Cocoa powder, coconut flakes, finely chopped nuts, and powdered sugar are all traditional options... but finely chopped almonds really are the way to go with this particular recipe.

You can just run some almonds through a food processor until finely chopped.

Alternately, Almond Meal is a readily available, easier option. Almond meal is just finely ground almonds, and is really nice to work with.

If you’re interested in truffle coatings in general, be sure to check out my Basic Dark Chocolate Truffles post for the full list of suggestions. The ones I’ve listed in this post are just the ones I recommend for this particular recipe!

How to Make White Chocolate Almond Amaretto Truffles

1. Place chocolate chips into a glass mixing bowl, and put aside.

2. In a small saucepan, combine heavy whipping cream, Amaretto, and butter. Heat to a boil, remove from heat.

3. Pour hot cream mixture into bowl of chocolate chips. Let sit for 3-5 minutes.

4. Starting in the middle of the bowl, slowly start stirring the chocolate and cream until all of the chocolate is
melted and the cream has disappeared into it – it should be smooth.

5. Cover with plastic wrap, preferably resting right on top of the surface – this prevents a skin from forming while it cools.

6. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour or two, until it’s pretty solid.

7. Once solid, scoop out small amounts (a teaspoon or two), and roll them into balls. Try to handle the chocolate as quickly as possible, or it will melt.

8. Once all of the ganache is rolled into balls: wash and dry hands, then roll ganache centers in ground almonds.

Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

This recipe comes from my first cookbook, The Spirited Baker. It’s FULL of fun, tasty recipes using spirits and liqueurs for flavour – you should check it out:

Combining liqueurs with more traditional baking ingredients can yield spectacular results.Try Mango Mojito Upside Down Cake, Candy Apple Flan, Jalapeno Beer Peanut Brittle, Lynchburg Lemonade Cupcakes, Pina Colada Rum Cake, Strawberry Daiquiri Chiffon Pie, and so much more.

To further add to your creative possibilities, the first chapter teaches how to infuse spirits to make both basic and cream liqueurs, as well as home made flavor extracts! This book contains over 160 easy to make recipes, with variation suggestions to help create hundreds more! Order your hard copy here on my website, through Amazon, or through any major bookseller.

With all of that said... on to the recipe!

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4.82 from 16 votes

White Chocolate Almond Amaretto Truffles

Using white chocolate chips to make truffles may not be traditional, but it is affordable, quick, and easy to do! The almonds and amaretto work well with the white chocolate - great payoff for little in cost and effort!

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time5 minutes mins

Total Time25 minutes mins

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: French, Gluten-free

Servings: 30 Truffles

Calories: 81kcal

Author: Marie Porter

Ingredients

• 10 oz White Chocolate Chips
• ⅓ Cup Heavy Cream
• 3 tablespoon Amaretto
• 3 tablespoon Almond Paste or Almond Butter
• 2 tablespoon Butter
• Finely Chopped Almonds

Instructions

• Place chocolate chips into a glass mixing bowl, and put aside.
• On stovetop, bring heavy whipping cream, Almond Paste/Almond Butter and butter to a boil. Stir well, making sure to fully break up and incorporate the almond paste/butter into the mix. Remove from heat, and stir in Amaretto.
• Pour hot cream mixture into bowl of chocolate chips. Let sit for 3-5 minutes. Starting in the middle of the bowl, slowly start stirring the chocolate and cream until all of the chocolate is melted, and the has disappeared into it – it should be smooth.
• Cover with plastic wrap, preferrably resting right on top of the surface – this prevents a skin from forming while it cools. s.
• Chill in the fridge for at least an hour or two, until it’s pretty solid.
• Once solid, scoop out small balls (a teaspoon or so, and roll them into balls. Try to handle the chocolate as quickly as possible, or it will melt
• Roll them in the finely chopped almonds, store in an airtight container.

Nutrition

Calories: 81kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 17mg | Potassium: 41mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 65IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1mg

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