Fun Thanksgiving Food – Chocolate Peanut Butter Teepee Truffles

These tiny candy Teepee Truffles made out of peanut butter modeling chocolate couldn’t be cuter and they taste amazing too. These fun Thanksgiving Desserts even have a chocolate truffle hiding inside.

Throughout my life I’ve had a fascination with the Native American culture. Growing up in the 70’s, I saw a lot of television shows depicting, what was most likely a very stereotypical version of their lives, but it was all I knew. I can remember watching westerns, trying to imagine what life out in the wilderness was like, living in a teepee (a.k.a., tipi and tepee), riding horses and wearing feathers in my hair. I’m not saying I would have enjoyed much of that, I’m just saying I imagined it.

As I got older, my interest turned more towards the bare chested guys with flowing long dark hair wildly riding around on those horses. Maidens were constantly being carried off by handsome young men and I fantasized being one of them. Sigh.

Oh, but, I digress.

Anyway, after all my reminiscing, I dreamt up an idea to craft candy teepees out of dark chocolate truffles, pretzel sticks, and peanut butter modeling chocolate for Thanksgiving. The soft texture of the creamy peanut butter modeling chocolate really compliments the rich dark chocolate truffle wrapped inside and the pretzels add a nice bit of crunch.They will look so cute on the Thanksgiving dinner table.

Fun Thanksgiving Desserts – Chocolate Peanut Butter Teepee Truffles 
(makes 18-22)

Ingredients:

Dark Chocolate Truffles –
16 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Peanut Butter Modeling Chocolate –
6 ounces Wilton Peanut Butter Candy Melts
6 ounces Wilton White Candy Melts
1/3 cup light corn syrup (or use honey, it will add flavor, and is a good alternative)
pretzel sticks (3 for each teepee)

Supplies:

non-stick baking mat (or use a gallon size zip top bag)
fondant rolling pin
4 1/4 inch round cookie cutter
pizza/pastry wheel or knife
2 inch round cookie cutter
tiny triangle metal cutter

Instructions:

Making Chocolate Truffles –

 

Place chopped chocolate in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until chocolate is fine crumbs.

Heat heavy whipping cream in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Stir often until it just comes to a boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, put lid on bowl, and let sit for 2-3 minutes.

Pulse for 5-10 seconds.

Remove lid and scrape down the sides and bottom of the food processor bowl.  Return lid and pulse for 5 more seconds.

Pour this mixture, called ganache, into a glass mixing bowl, cover, and sit at room temperature for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. You can speed up this process by refrigerating the ganache.

Note: A food processor makes easy work of creating a chocolate ganache.  If you don’t have one, finely chop your chocolate and put it in a microwave safe mixing bowl.  Pour hot cream over chocolate and let sit for 2-3 minutes. Use a whisk to create an emulsion. Begin by stirring just in the center of the bowl, then slowly bring the whisk out to the edge of the bowl. Stir just until combined and the ganache is smooth. Don’t over mix or the ganache can become grainy.

Make Peanut Butter Modeling Chocolate – 

Heat Wilton Peanut Butter Candy Melts and White Candy Melts in microwave safe bowl at high temperature for 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir. Heat for 30 more seconds. Allow bowl to sit in microwave for 2 minutes. Remove and stir. If not completely melted, heat at 10 second increments, stirring after each, until melted. Allow to cool to 89-90 degrees Fahrenheit (very important! See my Chocolate Making Tips page for detailed explanation and trouble shooting tips, if you’re modeling chocolate ends up greasy or dry.) Set aside for 30 minutes to harden slightly.

Create Teepee Covers –

Use a fondant rolling pin to roll out the peanut butter modeling chocolate on a non-stick baking mat. Roll to 1/8th of an inch thickness.

You can also cut open a gallon size zip top bag, and roll out the modeling chocolate in between the sheets of plastic bag.

Cut using a 4 1/4 inch round cutter. Cut each circle in half. Cut out a half moon from the rounded part of the half circle using a 2 inch round cookie cutter. Use that same cutter to cut off a small bit of each corner.

Gently press a tiny triangle cutter around the bottom and top edge creating a pattern. Be careful to not cut all the way through.

Scoop out tablespoonfuls of the chocolate ganache. Roll into balls then roll into cones. If the scooped truffles are too sticky, allow them to dry for a while before rolling. Wash hands often!

Stick three pretzel sticks onto the chocolate cones, creating the frame for your teepee. Wrap teepee cover around each chocolate truffle pressing together near the top and draping open near the bottom.

You can see in this photo, I cut too deeply using my triangle cutter. I just pressed the modeling chocolate together and sealed the seam.

Best if served the day they are made, just because the pretzels will still be nice and crisp, but they can be made and stored in an airtight container for up to 10 days. I made these five days ago, ate one yesterday and it tasted great, but the pretzel inside the teepee had soaked up the moisture from the truffle and was kind of soft. Just be aware that the more time they sit, the softer the pretzels may become.

Items used to create this project that are available on Amazon.com (commission earned for sales)
I use Peter’s Burgundy Burgundy Semi-Sweet Chocolate for all my candy making needs. You can buy 50 pound cases of the same chocolate blocks that I use, or you can buy some of the Burgundy Baking Chunks form King Arthur Flour via amazon. Both work great in this recipe.

   

   

More Thanksgiving Recipes

from Hungry Happenings

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Chocolate Rice Krispies Treat Turkey Pops

Chocolate Turkey Pretzel Pops

Caramel Apple FUDGE Pops

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge or Caramel

Turkey Treats for Thanksgiving

Leaf and Pumpkin Shaped Dinner Rolls Topped with Colored Cheese

Be sure to check out all of my amazing Thanksgiving Recipes