Ingredients:
Salted Peanut Praline
1 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 cup roasted salted peanuts
Peanut Butter Truffles:
2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¾ cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar
1 cup finely ground Salted Peanut Praline
Chocolate Coating:
2 tablespoons shortening (optional, not used if tempering chocolate)
Garnish:
About ½ cup finely ground Salted Peanut Praline
Directions:
- Line a large baking sheet or jelly roll pan with a non-stick baking mat or parchment paper. Place the pan on a wire rack to protect your countertop from the hot praline. Set aside.
Salted Peanut Praline:
- In a medium-size heavy-bottomed pan, combine sugar, water, and corn syrup. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Stir gently to avoid splashing the mixture onto the sides of the pan. Tip: Rub a drop of the warm sugar mixture between your fingertips to make sure it feels smooth, with no trace of sugar granules. If the mixture feels sandy, continue warming and stirring until the mixture is smooth.
- When the mixture begins to simmer, cover the pan tightly with a lid for 3 to 4 minutes to allow condensation to form and run down the inside of the pan to help wash away stray sugar crystals from the pan sides.
- Remove the lid and clip a candy thermometer to the inside of the pan, increase the heat to medium high and bring to a boil, without stirring, until the syrup reaches a temperature of 330 degrees F, a light caramel stage. While the syrup is cooking, wash away any sugar crystals that form on the sides of the pan by wiping upwards with a damp pastry brush so the sugar crystals don’t fall back into the syrup. Immediately remove pan from the heat and remove the candy thermometer. Tip:Lower the heat when the temperature reaches 320 degrees to slow the cooking because at this point it will quickly reach 330 degrees. In addition, remove the pan from the heat just before the syrup reaches 330 degrees to prevent it from going over 330 degrees. F.
- Let the hot mixture sit about 30 seconds to let the bubbling subside. Working carefully to prevent splattering, add the peanuts and stir quickly to thoroughly mix. Be careful, the sugar is extremely hot and will burn your skin if you touch it.
- Immediately pour the praline onto the prepared baking pan. Using a heavy spatula (a spatula that is not too flexible) quickly spread the praline over the pan about ¼ inch thick.Tip: You must work quickly because it takes less than a minute for the praline to start cooling, once cooled it will be difficult to spread.
- When the praline is completely cooled, break into small 2 or 3 inch pieces. Finely grind about three-fourths of the praline pieces in a food processor or small food grinder to make about 1½ cups of ground praline. You will use 1 cup of the ground praline in the truffles and about ½ cup of the ground praline for the garnish. The remainder of the praline pieces can be eaten and enjoyed as is.
Peanut Butter Truffles:
- In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, and peanut butter; use an electric hand mixer or wooden spoon and beat together until mixture is smooth. Add powdered sugar, melted and cooled white chocolate, and 1 cup of the finely ground Salted Peanut Praline; mix until thoroughly combined. Cover truffle mixture and refrigerate until well chilled, 1 to 2 hours.
- Shape chilled truffle mixture into small balls, using about 2 teaspoons of mixture for each ball. Tip: A small ice cream scoop is ideal for making uniform-sized candies. Keep refrigerated until ready to dip in the chocolate coating.
Chocolate Coating:
- Line a large baking pan with waxed paper or parchment paper.
Note: It is always preferable to temper chocolate when the chocolate is used for dipping candies. In place of step 11 below, See Tempering Chocolate – How to Temper Chocolatefor information about how to temper the chocolate to be used for dipping these candies.
If you don’t want to go through the steps of tempering the chocolate, the following directions are for melting chocolate (not tempering.) See Melting Chocolate – How to Melt Chocolate for additional information about melting chocolate.
- In top of a double boiler over hot water, melt milk chocolate. Stir in the shortening. Set aside to cool.
Tip: Create a double boiler by filling a saucepan with 2 inches of water and bringing it to a simmer. Turn the heat off and place a glass bowl, stainless steel bowl, or ceramic bowl on top of the hot water; the upper pan should not touch the water.
- Place the cooled bowl of chocolate over a pan of hot water to keep the chocolate a liquid consistency for dipping.
Dipping and Garnish:
- Place one truffle at a time in the chocolate, gently turn it over with a fork or candy dipping fork. Tap the fork on the rim of the bowl to allow excess chocolate to drip back into the pan, and then draw the underside of the fork over the rim of the pan to remove any drips of chocolate. Gently place the chocolate coated truffles on the prepared baking pan, pushing the truffle off the fork with another fork. Garnish by sprinkling a small amount of finely ground Salted Peanut Praline on top of each truffle. Let truffles sit until the chocolate is dry and firm. Tip: refrigerate chocolate coated truffles about 30 minutes for the chocolate to become firm.However, if the chocolate has been tempered the balls do not need to be refrigerated as the chocolate should set quickly.
- Store in an airtight container so they won’t dry out. Candies dipped with tempered chocolate can generally be stored in a cool place or at room temperature. Candies dipped with melted (untempered chocolate) should generally be stored in the refrigerator.
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