The Burroughs Do holidays have a way of sneaking up on you like they do here in our house? More than most any other one, Valentine’s Day seems to always creep up on us out of nowhere. Then we get caught-up in the seemingly never-ending conundrum of “What small yet meaningful token would be an excellent gift to show my love and appreciation for my partner?”
More than for potentially any other holiday, our tradition for Valentine’s Day is one that we always strive to adhere to. Back in the early days of our relationship, when we were both fairly frugal college students, we established a tradition of getting takeout from a favorite local Chinese restaurant, cuddling up on the couch, and watching a movie or three. This is such an important tradition for us that it’s quite possibly the only recurring once-a-year event on our Google Calendar.
However, as important as this is, it seems like every year we face a struggle in what little thing to get each other. As we’ve been together for over 10 years now, we’ve been through the stereotyped gifts- chocolates, flowers, small cutesy stuffed animals. Something that we realized fairly early on, though, is those stereotypes exist for a reason- very rarely will somebody NOT be happy when another person buys them flowers or sweets. This is where it becomes a bit of a struggle for me, especially- I try as hard as I can to not repeat things I gift to Katie, in part because I like introducing her to new things. However, there are only so many companies making readily-available nice chocolates out there. And there have been numerous times over the past 10+ years that I have purchased chocolates for Katie- birthdays, Christmases, random Tuesdays just because.
Something that I have become increasingly interested in over the past few years is not just going and buying a nice gift off the shelf, but having part of the gift be the effort that I put-in to customize a gift just for Katie. Which brings me to the recipe for this week: homemade truffles!
The biggest thing I have come to love about making truffles is the seemingly-endless opportunities to customize them. You can use different types of chocolate, different flavoring components, different coatings, the options are pretty much whatever you can imagine.
The ones in this week’s post combine the awesome acidity and freshness of lemon with the blank-slate sweetness that white chocolate affords. If you were looking for something a bit different, you could also try orange or other kinds of citrus, chocolate instead of white chocolate (rolling them in cocoa powder), nut extracts… The options are endless!
White Chocolate Lemon Truffles
White Chocolate Lemon Truffles are easy to make and delicious to share! Stir a few ingredients together, refrigerate, and roll for a tasty treat for Valentine’s Day or anytime. Change up the extract and the coating to make it your own!
Ingredients
2 cups white chocolate chips
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 teaspoons lemon extract
Pinch of salt
Powdered sugar
Instructions
- Combine white chocolate chips, butter, and heavy cream in a large glass bowl.
- Heat in the microwave for 30 seconds, then stir. Repeat until the mixture is smooth.
- Add salt and 2 teaspoons lemon extract and stir. Stir in remaining lemon extract to taste.
- Let mixture cool on the counter for 10-15 minutes, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- Using a small spoon or cookie scoop, scoop out enough of the mixture to quickly roll into a 1-inch ball. Coat ball with powdered sugar, and dust off excess.
