Turkey Truffles

Indulge in something this Thanksgiving that is rich and creamy but is also irresistibly adorable. Make these Turkey Truffles and have your taste buds go wild when you bite in and taste the delicious pumpkin spiced ganache.

This post is sponsored by Collective Bias on behalf of Nestle. What started as an experiment using Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin and Edy's Slow Churned® Pumpkin Patch Ice Cream turned into one of the most amazing pumpkin recipes, I've ever made.

I never imagined I'd be this excited to share a new post just a few days after my favorite holiday ended. Moving past Halloween and transitioning into Thanksgiving isn't as exciting for me as it is for most people. I'm actually quite sad now that my party is over, my pumpkin decorations are all taken down and the trick-or-treaters have come and gone.

Luckily for me, spending an afternoon making these Turkey Truffles has really lifted my spirits. Not only did I develop the best tasting, most amazing pumpkin-flavored ganache for inside these truffles, but the turkeys turned out so cute, that I can't stop smiling when I look at them.

When I accepted the challenge to create a recipe using Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin and Edy's Slow Churned® Pumpkin Patch Ice Cream, the first recipe that came to mind was my Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream Truffles where I melted ice cream and used it in place of whipping cream in my chocolate ganache recipe. I knew I could do something similar using pumpkin.

I already have a recipe for Chocolate Pumpkin Truffles on this blog and decided to start there and make some changes. Wow, am I glad I did. The new recipe made a silky smooth ganache with an intensified pumpkin flavor with hints of custard thanks to the Pumpkin Patch Ice Cream.

The ice cream is wonderful all on its own but made into these truffles, it's over the top. I found it at Walmart and need to go back and get another carton or three. It's only available during the holidays, so you'll want to go grab some so you can make these truffles.

Note: In other areas of the country, it's called Dryer's Ice Cream.

Also at Walmart, I found Libby's 8-ounce cans of pumpkin. I'd never seen cans that small before and was so happy to find them, as that's exactly what this recipe calls for.

This recipe does make a lot of pumpkin ganache. It is enough to make 60 Turkey Truffles using the 2 ½ inch egg molds that I used. I know that is a lot of chocolate turkeys.

I actually only made 16 turkeys. I just weighed everything to calculate the total number of truffles it would make.

I plan to use the rest of the pumpkin ganache on some cheesecake tarts that I'll be sending in to work with my husband for his Veteran's Day luncheon. That is if I don't just eat it all by the spoonful.

Chocolate Turkey Truffles filled with Pumpkin Ganache

Ingredients: (makes 60)

Pumpkin Ganache:
8 ounces (1 cup) Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin
¼ cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup packed Edy's Slow Churned Pumpkin Patch Ice Cream*
18 ounces good-quality white chocolate (with cocoa butter in the ingredients)
⅓ cup Nestle Butterscotch Morsels

*Edy's (or Dryer's) Slow Churned Pumpkin Patch Ice Cream is available at Walmart through the holiday season. You can also use Edy's Slow Churned Classic Vanilla or Vanilla Bean Ice Cream for this recipe, just increase the spices to 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon, ¾ teaspoon ginger, and ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg.

Chocolate Truffle Shells:

24-28 ounces melted and tempered pure milk chocolate
18-20 ounces melted and tempered pure dark chocolate

       OR use melted light and dark cocoa confectionery coating/candy melts**

**For instructions on melting chocolate or confectionery coating, see my Chocolate Making Tips Page.

Decorations:
120 candy eyes (⅜ inch look best)
60 orange candy-coated sunflower seeds
60 red candy-coated sunflower seeds

Supplies Needed:

2 ¼ or 2 ½ inch egg-shaped candy molds
small squeeze-it mold painters or squeeze bottles, pastry bags or zip-top bags

Instructions:

• Pour the pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg into a small non-stick skillet.
• Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally for five minutes.
• Continue to heat stirring constantly for 3 more minutes, until the mixture thickens, turns deep golden brown, and reduces by about half.
• Remove the pumpkin from the heat and allow it to cool for 15 minutes.

• Meanwhile, set up a double boiler, with 1 inch of water in the bottom pan and the ice cream, white chocolate, and butterscotch morsels in the top pan.
• Set over low heat. Stir occasionally.

I put my pumpkin through a fine-mesh strainer before adding it to the melting chocolate to make sure there were no lumps. I'm not sure this is absolutely necessary, but I really wanted to make sure I ended up with a smooth ganache.

• Continue to stir the ganache, occasionally, until almost all of the chocolate is melted.
• Turn off the heat and allow the remaining chunks of chocolate to melt.
  • The butterscotch chips will be the last thing to melt. I had to smash them with a spoon to get them to melt completely.
• Pour the hot ganache into a glass measuring cup or bowl. Cover it and allow it to cool to room temperature, at least one hour.

• Combine 16 ounces of milk chocolate with 16 ounces of dark chocolate.
• Paint a thin layer of chocolate into each egg-shaped cavity in your candy molds.

NOTE: I combined the two types of chocolate to get a nicely flavored yet not so dark chocolate egg for my turkeys. I wanted the flavor of semi-sweet chocolate to contrast the sweet pumpkin ganache, but it was just too dark in color, so adding the milk chocolate lightened it while maintaining a rich flavor. I tried using all milk chocolate, but I found the truffles to be too sweet.

If using tempered chocolate, you'll need to re-temper it to use it for various stages of this recipe.

Make sure you fill in any thin spots or holes and be sure the chocolate goes all the way up to the edge of the egg cavity. Wipe the excess chocolate off around the edge of the eggs.

If using pure chocolate pop the molds in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes.

If using confectionery coating, place in the freezer for about 5 minutes.

• Pipe pumpkin ganache into the chocolate shells, leaving enough room to top the ganache with a thin layer of chocolate.
• Let the eggs sit for 1 hour at room temperature until the ganache thickens and drys on top.

Spread a layer of chocolate over top of the ganache and scrape off any excess chocolate.

• Pop them in the refrigerator for pure chocolate and freezer for confectionery coating for 5 minutes until the topcoat is hardened.

• Carefully turn the mold upside down over a baking sheet or countertop and allow the chocolate eggs to fall out.

• Put a teaspoon size dollop of the blended milk and dark chocolate on a piece of parchment paper.
• Allow it to thicken a bit, then set one chocolate truffle egg, with the rounded side down, in the middle of it.
• Hold it until it hardens in place.
• If the chocolate is thick enough, you can just set the egg on top and it will stand up.
• Repeat creating little chocolate stands for all of your truffle eggs.

• Use the remaining dark chocolate to pipe the outline of turkey tail feathers onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Fill in with the remaining milk chocolate.
• Once you have piped in the milk chocolate, tap the tray to remove air bubbles. Do this as you make each one.
• Refrigerate (pure chocolate) or freeze (coating) for 5-10 minutes until set.

• To assemble, use melted chocolate to attach two eyes, one orange candy-coated sunflower seed beak, one red candy-coated sunflower seed waddle (the thing that hangs down around the beak,) and one tail feather.
• The backside of the tail feathers (pictured on the right) looks nicer and is flat, so brush on some chocolate and press it onto the back of the chocolate egg.

• Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

I was compensated by Collective Bias and it's Advertiser to create this recipe, but all opinions expressed here are my own.

This pumpkin ganache recipe is one of my new favorites. Even if you don't make these time-consuming turkeys, make the ganache. You'll love it, I'm sure.

 
Items used to make this project that are available on Amazon.com (commission earned for sales)

More Turkey Treats

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge or Caramel

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Be sure to check out all of my amazing Thanksgiving Recipes

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Beth

Hi, I'm Beth Jackson Klosterboer, a professional chocolatier & baker, cookbook author, and event planner. I love sharing recipes for happy occasions here on Hungry Happenings. I also create easy fudge recipes to share at HowToMakeEasyFudge.com, rice krispie treat recipes at HowToMakeCerealTreats.com, and easy cookie recipes at HowToMakeEasyCookies.com

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