This candy melts truffles recipe is perfect for any leftover candy melts you might have from making other candy melts projects or you have leftovers of melted candy melts that you don’t need anymore.
This recipe can be also used with any other type of chocolate and most candy melts substitutes and you can even mix in regular chocolate bar if you have any.
I’ve developed this recipe for my students, who have been asking whether they can make chocolate truffles from their candy melts leftovers. Now, I’m the last person to suggest that you should make your chocolate truffles from candy melts and expect them to taste better than if you use a good quality chocolate coverture.
But, if you have some candy melts leftovers or you happen to have a bag of candy melts you don’t want to use for anything else, you can certainly turn them into decent chocolate truffles.
Since candy melts are not exactly chocolate, we will need to help the flavour by adding some flavourings, salt, spices and alcohol. All of these flavours are optional, but they do help to make the candy melts taste much better.
MORE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES RECIPES
Why make this recipe?
- Budget friendly
- Great for leftover candy melts (any flavour or colour), chocolate bars, Easter or Christmas chocolate figures leftovers etc
- Great as a gift, after dinner treat or take to a party to share with your friends
My top tips on making this recipe successfully the first time round
Don’t add too much liquid otherwise your candy melts filling might stay too sof and won’t set very well. If you want to add alcohol, extra liquid flavours, reduce the cream by the same amount.
What makes this recipe work
- Adding a pinch of salt to the candy melts filling
- Adding flavouring, spices or alcohol to enhance the candy melts flavour
Any specialist equipment needed?
If you are making these candy melts chocolate truffles using the rolling technique, you don’t need any specialist equipment.
You’ll need a hob or microwave to heat the cream.
If you decide to dip the chocolates in a layer of chocolate or candy melts you might need scraper and large stone chopping board to temper your chocolate and dipping forks or catering – food save gloves to roll the truffles in.
Time saving tip
You can prepare the candy melts ganache filling the day before you want to make your truffles and leave them to set overnight in the fridge. The next day, you can start straight away with rolling your truffles without waiting around to check whether they are properly set or not.
Pro tip
If you want your candy melts truffles to last longer, roll them in melted candy melts (or chocolate) and then in cocoa powder, ground almonds, crushed biscuits, shredded coconut or any other toppings that compliment your truffles flavour.
Ingredients & Possible Substitutions
Candy Melts
You can use any type of candy melts for this recipe, including candy melts that have seized and you can’t use them for dipping cake pops or truffles anymore.
Depending on whether they are flavoured or not, I would probably keep the flavours separately, unless it’s something like the caramel candy melts and the chocolate flavoured candy melts, which can work well together.
Equally you can mix the colours together (if you are using the plain flavoured, but coloured candy melts), unless you are happy with the loss of the colours. For example any purple, red or pink will work together and will give you a slightly deeper pink colour and you can easily mix in any white candy melts.
Red, orange and white will give you a bit of a darker orange, unless you add a lot of white in which case it will be more pastel orange colour.
Any coloured candy melts can be melted into the brown or dark brown chocolate flavoured candy melts and they will just be all brow (ish).
If you have leftovers with all the different colours and you have no other candy melts left, melt them together and a teaspoon or two of cocoa powder. This will make them looking (and tasting) like a milk/dark chocolate.
If you have any chocolate leftovers from Easter or Christmas or any plain or flavoured chocolate bars, you can also use these and mix everything together to get to the 200 grams (about 7 oz or about 1 cup) of overall chocolate/candy melts to start your recipe with.
Cream
If you are using candy melts that have been thinned with oil too much, make sure that you use less cream than in my recipe. This is because the oil makes the candy melts very thin and adding too much cream would make the candy melts filling a little too soft.
What you can use instead of cream
- Condensed coconut milk
- Double cream (heavy cream)
- Plant based cream (milks would be too ‘thin’)
Flavourings
You can use any kind of flavourings that you have already in your kitchen cupboard. You might like to get inspired by the colour of your candy melts – for example if you have a green colour, mint or peppermint flavour would work great and then you can roll them in cocoa powder or melted candy melts.
Spices
You can use spices as the main flavour (for example chilli) or as a supporting/ secondary flavour (for example orange oil essence with ground cinnamon).
Always use the ground version of any spice if you are adding the spice directly to the candy melts truffles.
If you are making a large batch of chocolate truffles, you can also boil the cream add any whole spice (such as cardamom, aniseed star or whole cinnamon stick) and leave the cream to infuse for 20 minutes or so. Afterwards pour the cream through a fine sieve and carry on with the recipe (disposing off the used spices).
Salt
Sugar doesn’t have much of a flavour on it’s own and a lot of sugar (like in this recipe) can actually make the everything taste quite bland. A tiny pinch of fine salt, dissolved in a bit of water helps to bring all these flavours together.
Alcohol
I always match the flavour of the candy melts ganache filling with particular alcohol. For example orange oil with cinnamon and whisky works great as a festive or autumn flavour.
Sweet liqueurs, such as cherry liqueur are perfect for candy melts ganache fillings as they add flavour.
Alcohol also helps to preserve the cream inside the candy melts truffles, which can be quite useful if you are planning make these truffles in advance of any event or want to keep them for more than 7 days.
MORE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES RECIPES
How to make easy candy melts truffles
Chop all the candy melts into smaller pieces (if they have been previously melted and set hard)
Bring the cream to the boil in the microwave (or on the hob) and pour over the chopped up candy melts. Leave for few minutes to slowly melt the candy melts by themselves.
Add tiny pinch of salt (few granules) and let it disolve.
Strir carefully and leave to cool down a bit.
Add flavouring of your choice, either as an essence, spice or small amount of alcohol.
Once the mixture is cold (but not set), whip it with a wooden spoon to add volume and to make the candy melts filling lighter.
Cover the bowl and chill for few hours or overnight in the fridge.
Line a large baking sheet or a tray with greaseproof paper. Using a small spoon form the candy melts mixture into small balls and place on the baking sheet.
Whilst still slightly soft, roll the truffles in your choice of topping or leave to set before dipping into melted chocolate or candy melts.
Leave your candy melts to fully set in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
Eat within 7-14 days (depending on your filling ingredients).
Flavour ideas & variations
- Creamy Vanilla Truffles – add vanilla essence
- Mint Truffles – add mint or peppermint flavouring
- Chilli Truffles – add mild or strong ground chilli powder and a dash of whisky (optional) – great with dark candy melts
- Cappuccino Truffles – instant coffee granules
- Zesty Lemon Truffles – + fresh lemon juice + lemon essence (if needed)
- Baileys Truffles – Irish cream (swap some of the condensed milk for extra Irish cream)
Options for toppings
- Icing sugar + cinnamon or other spice
- Cocoa powder
- Candy melts or chocolate (melted for dipping or grated for coating)
- Ground almonds, walnuts, pistachios etc
- Freeze dried raspberries or strawberries
- Hundred & thousands or other sugar strands (soft version)
Batch size
This recipe will give you about 15-20 candy melts truffles, but the final number depends on how big or small you make them.
Scaling up this recipe
If you want to make more candy melts truffles, simply double or triple the quantities of all the ingredients.
If you want your chocolate filling to set quicker (when using large quantities) in the fridge pour it into a shallow tray (lined with greaseproof paper) or a large plastic container.
Troubleshooting tips
This candy melts truffles recipe with candy melts ganache filling is pretty straightforward, but if you do run into some difficulty check out my chocolate truffles tips.
Shelf life
The shelf life will depend on what ingredients you use for your candy melts, but here are few options to give you an idea about how long you can keep your candy melts truffles for:
Cream – 3-7 days
Cream + Alcohol + outer layer of candy melts or chocolate – 2-4 weeks
Plant based cream – 2-4 weeks
Plant based cream + alcohol + outer layer of candy melts or chocolate – 4-6 weeeks
How to store candy melts truffles
Candy melts truffles don’t need to be stored in the fridge, but somewhere cold and dark is preferable.
Why not stay in touch…
I hope you enjoy making this recipe and if you do, I’d love to know what you think! Let me know in the comments below or find me on Instagram or Facebook and add the hashtag #cocoaandheart so that I can see your post.
Or why not subscribe to my weekly newsletter with new recipes and baking tips straight to your mailbox.
Magdalena
Easy Chocolate Truffles (with candy melts ganache filling)
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup double or single (heavy) cream or plant based cream 60 ml or about 1/2 the amount of your candy melts
- 1/2 pack candy melts 7 oz or about 200 grams
- tiny pinch fine salt
- 1/4 teaspoon flavouring of your choice vanilla, mint, caramel, coffee
- tiny pinch spices to compliment the flavour cinnamon, mixed spice, ginger, chilli
- 1/4 teaspoon alcohol optional
- 100 grams toppings of your choice cocoa powder, ground coconut, ground nuts or melted chocolate or more candy melts
Instructions
- Chop all the candy melts into smaller pieces (if they have been previously melted and set hard)
- Bring the cream to the boil in the microwave (or on the hob) and pour over the chopped up candy melts. Leave for few minutes to slowly melt the candy melts by themselves.
- Add tiny pinch of salt (few granules) and let it disolve.
- Strir carefully and leave to cool down a bit.
- Add flavouring of your choice, either as an essence, spice or small amount of alcohol.
- Once the mixture is cold (but not set), whip it with a wooden spoon to add volume and to make the candy melts filling lighter.
- Cover the bowl and chill for few hours or overnight in the fridge.
- Line a large baking sheet or a tray with greaseproof paper. Using a small spoon form the candy melts mixture into small balls and place on the baking sheet.
- Whilst still slightly soft, roll the truffles in your choice of topping or leave to set before dipping into melted chocolate or candy melts.
- Leave to fully set in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
- Eat within 7-14 days (depending on your filling ingredients).
Leave a Reply