Is there anything much more decadent than delicious, sweet chocolate truffles?

With a soft chocolatey filling and rolled in a variety of coatings, these little treasures are always welcome.

You will be surprised at how easy truffles are to make.

Prep time: 10 minutes, plus refrigeration

Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon rum (optional)
cocoa

Directions:
Place the chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler and bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the chocolate melts. Add the butter and sugar, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat. Add the yolks, one at a time, beating with an electric mixer after each addition. Stir in the rum. Pour the mixture into a bowl. Cover and let sit for 12-24 hours in a cool dry place. (Do not refrigerate).

Shape the mixture into 1 inch balls and roll them in the cocoa. Freeze for 1 hour. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Makes about 2 dozen truffles.

Variations:

In addition to cocoa, you can roll or dip the truffles into a variety of coatings. Try dipping the balls into:

• melted chocolate, then let rest on a waxed paper coated flat surface until hardened.
• melted white chocolate, letting them rest as above.
• When the chocolate has hardened, if you really want to get creative, put some melted chocolate, in the same or opposite color from your coating, into a plastic baggie, cut a TINY hole at the end and drizzle over the balls as in the photo above.

You can also roll the balls into any of the following coatings:

• shredded sweetened coconut
• chocolate sprinkles
• colored sprinkles