Chocolate Turkeys

When I made these chocolate turkeys, I filled them with delicious pumpkin ganache but I've had some readers ask about making them using solid chocolate instead. You can make them either way. I'll share instructions for both.

Spending an afternoon making these Turkey Truffles was so much fun. Not only did I develop the best-tasting, most amazing pumpkin-flavored ganache for inside these truffles, but the chocolate turkeys turned out so cute, that I can't stop smiling.

To make these truffles I started with a pumpkin-flavored chocolate ganache that I used to make my Chocolate Pumpkin Truffles. Then, I took inspiration from 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.

This recipe makes a lot of pumpkin ganache. It is enough to make 60 Turkey Truffles. I know that is a lot of chocolate turkeys.

You can cut it in half if you want to make fewer candies.

Chocolate Turkey Truffles filled with Pumpkin Ganache

Ingredients

Chocolate Turkeys:

• pure milk and dark chocolate (made with cocoa butter) or compound milk and dark chocolate (known as candy melts, almond bark, melting wafers, or confectionery coating)

 If you use pure chocolate, you must melt and temper the chocolate (heat and cool it to exact temperatures) in order for it to harden properly. If you use compound chocolates like candy melts or almond bark, you can simply melt it.

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

Decorations:

• candy eyes (⅜ inch look best)
• orange candy-coated sunflower seeds - You'll use these candies to make the beaks on your chocolate turkeys.
• red candy-coated sunflower seeds - These candies will be used to create the turkey's wattle.

Optional Pumpkin Ganache:

• pure pumpkin puree - You'll need 1 cup of pumpkin. You can scoop one cup out of a large can and use the rest for another recipe if you cannot find small 8-ounce cans.
• light or dark brown sugar - Either will work fine in this recipe.
• cinnamon
• ground ginger
• freshly grated nutmeg - This spice always tastes the best when freshly grated.
• pumpkin ice cream - I used Edy's Slow Churned Pumpkin Patch Ice Cream. If you can't find pumpkin ice cream, use vanilla ice cream instead and increase the spices according to the recipe below.
• white chocolate - Be sure to(with cocoa butter in the ingredients)
• ⅓ cup Nestle Butterscotch Morsels

Supplies

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

 
Items used to make this project are available on Amazon.com. I earn a small commission when you make a purchase using the links below at no extra cost to you.

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Instructions

Make the turkey's tail feathers.

• Use dark chocolate to pipe the outline of turkey tail feathers onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. I filled a squeeze bottle with the chocolate but you can use a zip-top bag instead.
• Fill inside the chocolate feathers with 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 compound chocolate (candy melts, almond bark, melting wafers) for 5-10 minutes until set.
• Don't leave them in the refrigerator for too long or they can curl or crack.

Make the chocolate egg shells for the turkeys' bodies.

• 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.

Alternatively, you can use a polycarbonate egg mold to make the chocolate egg shells.

Fill the mold completely with chocolate, then pour out the chocolate leaving behind a thin shell,

Scrape off the excess.

OR make solid chocolate eggs.

Just fill the egg cavities in the mold and refrigerate them for about 20 minutes until hardened (or freeze candy melts, almond bark, etc.).

If you make solid chocolate eggs, skip the next few steps.

Pumpkin Ice Cream Ganache

Cook the pumpkin, brown sugar, and spices in a skillet.

• 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.

Make the pumpkin ice cream ganache.

• 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, for at least one hour.

Fill chocolate shells with pumpkin ganache.

• 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 dries on top.

Top with chocolate.

• Spread a layer of chocolate over the 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.

Unmold the chocolates.

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

Turn chocolate eggs into turkeys.

• Put a teaspoon-sized 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.

Decorate the chocolate turkeys.

• 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.

Storage

• Store pumpkin ganache-filled chocolate turkey truffles in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
• You can refrigerate these chocolate turkey truffles for up to 2 weeks if you have to. Package them in a cardboard box on a few layers of paper towels. The cardboard and paper towels will wick up any condensation that may form on the chocolates.
• Remove the box from the refrigerator and set it on the counter for a few hours before opening it. If you expose the cold chocolates to warm air, your chocolates can become sticky.
• Solid chocolate turkeys can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 months.

Related Recipes

If you have fun making these delicious chocolate turkeys, you might also enjoy making these other chocolate turkey-themed recipes.

Rice Krispie Treat Turkeys

Hot Chocolate Bomb Turkeys

Thanksgiving Ice Cream Turkey

Turkey Pretzels

Be sure to check out all of my amazing Thanksgiving Recipes.