That Betty Crocker really knows her stuff.

I decided to try my hand at truffles because I had a carton of heavy whipping cream in my fridge that needed to be used (before I somehow consumed it all myself, like in my morning coffee or something) and I have a family function to go to this weekend where I can take them and share the love (again, assuring that I will not consume them all myself... this is important).

Since I've never made them before, I relied on ol' reliable herself, Betty Crocker. She never lets me down.

I did put my own spin on them, of course, by the way of flavoring and such. My first concoction were these...

I like to call them 'Rum Fried Ice Cream Truffles' because I put a little rum extract in the filling, and I put cinnamon in the white chocolate coating and also sprinkled them with more cinnamon and drizzled with honey. They are tast-eeeee. Yum.

Next, I went a more traditional route and made these 'Hot Chocolate Truffles'...

I didn't add anything to the filling and coating recipes; I simply sprinkled these with the powder and marshmallows from a hot chocolate packet. (My packets came with the powder and marshmallows separate, just in case you were wondering. It's the Swiss Miss Marshmallow Lovers.)

I'll give you a link to the recipe here in just a sec, but before I do I wanted to give you a couple words of advice: 1) Melt your chocolate over gentle heat (low to medium, depending on your range), stir constantly and remove it from heat as soon as it is melted. If you keep it over the heat too long, it will get unruly and hard to work with, especially the dipping chocolate. 2) Add your sprinkles (whichever kind you choose... be creative!) right after you dip the filling balls into the coating. They start to set up pretty quickly, so the sooner you add your sprinkles, the better they will stick.

That's it! As you will see from the recipe, they're pretty easy! Too easy, in fact.

Another recommendation: If you have any melted chocolate left over, heat up some milk and make yourself a hot chocolate with it. This is what I did and I think my hot chocolate expectations are going to be revolutionized forever more.

Recipe: Betty Crocker's Chocolate Truffles