Happy mid-December, bakers and decorators! How’s your month going? Are you getting through it, holiday shopping online and waiting for the end of 2020 to finally arrive? Do you have snow or sunshine? Here in my corner of the Mid-Atlantic, it’s been getting cold but there’s still no snow to be seen. It doesn’t seem quite like the holidays to me until we get that snowstorm, but a lack of snow can’t stop me from baking up a blizzard inside!

Have you fallen into a good chocolate coma lately? At the tail end of 2020, I’d say we all deserve one! If you haven’t been able to absolutely overindulge in the last couple months, have I got the perfect solution for you. These truffles are just a few ingredients and they are a total chocolate mint overload. There’s something about an Andes Mint that is just so… Christmas-y, right? Any time I can incorporate them into a dessert, you can bet I will! While they are super-duper easy to make, I’ll still give you a couple of my favorite truffle-tips so that you’ll have successful and pretty on your first try, because friends, I have made some ugly truffles in my time. Let me save you the hassle!

Crushing the Andes Mints

You’re going to want small pieces for parts of this recipe. The first time I wanted to make these, I went the ‘crush crackers’ route and threw a bunch in a Ziploc bag and then smashed them up with a hammer. It was therapeutic, but wasn’t the right technique. If you smash ’em, the mint bits will look all scuffed and beat up, and not like a pretty garnish for your truffle. Instead, grab a sharp knife and chop them finely. I usually stack two together to save a bit of time before I chop them. You can make the pieces the size you like, but smaller is definitely better when it comes to looks.

Melting the Chocolate

If you want to do the hard chocolate shell that I’ve shown in the photos, you’re going to need to melt some chocolate. There’s a couple ways that you can get that done. You can melt some high quality chocolate on a double boiler, but you’ll also need to temper the chocolate. If you go that route and you’ve never tempered before, you’ll need a candy thermometer and a good guide. This Epicurious article is easy to follow and should get you the information that you need. However, because these truffles are so simple, I usually just use Ghirardelli melting chocolate wafers, melted in the microwave. They don’t require tempering and the chocolate is a bit more forgiving in general. You can use whichever variety of chocolate you prefer, but in this post I’ve used milk chocolate. It’s still dark in appearance and plays well off the denseness of the truffle filling.

Dipping the Truffles

There’s all sorts of ways to dip a truffle. You can use a slotted spoon, an ice cream scoop, or even a melon baller. But I prefer a regular fork. The truffles sit on it well and a fork helps the chocolate drain off the bottom quickly. You’ll also want the chocolate to stay warm, so place the bowl you melted your chocolate in over a pot of steaming water on the counter while you’re dipping, just to keep everything flowing smoothly, After you dip the truffle, shake the fork gently and slide it off the tines and onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.

Garnishing the Truffles

Lastly, we want to give our truffles a little bit of bling! If you’re garnishing with chopped Andes Mint pieces, sprinkle a few on as soon as you’ve gotten the truffle settled on the tray. I did half of this batch that way. The other half, I did a with a white chocolate coating, and I dyed the chocolate green to go with the Andes Mint theme. You should need no more than one drop of green gel dye to about a cup of white chocolate melting wafers to achieve that light green ‘mint’ color. First melt the chocolate, and once it is smooth add the drop of color. Immediately pour the chocolate into a piping bag with a #1 tip, and then go back and forth across your chosen truffles. Lovely!