Christmas Truffles 2009

It's that time of year again...

Time for me to get busy in the kitchen! Every year I like to make food gifts for people. All summer long I make canned goods that I usually give away at the holidays. (You can read about those here.) But I also like to make some stuff for people specifically that I know they enjoy.

For my mother I make a Croatian Nut Roll. I'd try and spell it or provide the recipe but it's one of those that I would butcher if I tried. It's something close to Potica but a little different. When I do make it this year, I'll share the recipe as best as I can.

For my brother, I make sausage bread which is one of those Pillsbury recipes that my Aunt Jane used to make every year for her Christmas Day Brunch and she would have to make extra just for my brother because he would make a pig out of himself.

For my dad I make anything involving chocolate. Last year it was triple chocolate covered cherries. This year I decided to make all sorts of unusual truffles. And since you can't make truffles in small batches (who'd want to anyway) I ended up with LOTS of them.

I spent some time thinking about what flavors I wanted to try out that were new and I knew there were some that I've made before that were really tasty so I ended up with these six varieties:

• Yellow Curry made with Milk Chocolate
• Chai Tea made with White Chocolate
• Cafe Corretto (Espresso and Grappa) made with Dark Chocolate and Toasted Hazelnuts
• Cranberry and Guavaberry made with White Chocolate
• Maple & Bacon made with Milk Chocolate
• Bourbon and Molasses made with Dark Chocolate

I'm boxing them up for friends and neighbors, in addition to Mike and my dad, so if you want some stake your claim soon. There are only 10 left!

The Chai Tea is freakin' awesome!