2000s Recipes + Menus

Dulce de Leche and Nut-Butter Truffles

Makesabout 30 truffles
  • Active time:45 min
  • Start to finish:1 1/2 hr (includes chilling)
December 2008
Leftover dulce de leche is nothing if not versatile: You can spoon it over ice cream, drizzle it over fresh fruit, or serve it with cookies. But if you’re still feeling industrious after making our Dulce de Leche Half Moons, use the rest in these truffles. We promise you won’t be sorry. The combination of caramelized milk, bittersweet chocolate, and almond butter produces a deeply flavored, not-too-sweet confection. And there’s no need to chill the mixture before rolling, as you would if making traditional truffles with chocolate and cream—this user-friendly “ganache” practically rolls itself. If you make the truffles with peanut butter, the nut flavor will be a bit more pronounced than in the almond-butter version.

For truffles

  • 4 oz 60%-cacao bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons dulce de leche at room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons well-stirred natural almond butter or peanut butter

For coating

  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
  • 2 oz 60%-cacao bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Make truffles:

  • Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove bowl from heat and stir in dulce de leche and nut butter. Cool slightly, then roll level teaspoons of mixture into balls and place on a tray. Chill completely, about 30 minutes.

Coat truffles:

  • Sift cocoa powder into a medium baking pan or onto a tray. Melt chocolate in a shallow heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove pan from heat, leaving bowl over water. Dip truffles, 1 at a time, in chocolate, lifting out with a fork and letting excess drip off, then immediately transfer to cocoa, turning to coat. Let stand until coating is set, then shake off excess cocoa in a sieve. (Remaining cocoa can be sifted and returned to container.)
Cooks’ note: Truffles are best the day they are made but can be frozen up to 2 weeks (do not keep at room temperature). Thaw at room temperature 1 hour before serving.
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