Home made truffles

Not the best photo in the world, but you get the idea!

You will remember that there is a famous brand of delicious chocolates which are available in many shops; they are sold in clear perspex-type boxes, in which the individual sweeties are wrapped in gold paper and sit in a little brown case.  There has been a tv advertisement for them in the past featuring a huge heap of them!

You know what I am talking about?

They aren't cheap.  But, thanks to The Frugal Graduate, we have a way of making them much more affordable, which takes only about 20 minutes of your time.

Check out that link to find the original recipe.  I made a few alterations!

I bought ready roasted hazelnuts, so that cut out a huge section of the recipe and meant I could just chuck them straight in with the bashed-with -the end-of-the-rolling-pin ice cream wafers.  

I then used Tesco's own brand chocolate hazelnut spread (much cheaper than Nutella) to mix the ice cream wafers and the hazelnuts - and she's right - you do have to get in there with your hands to get it all together!

I rolled them into little balls and refrigerated them.  The trick with the rolling was to wash my hands every 5 balls or so in very cold water, and then the stuff didn't stick too much!

I used Lidl's milk chocolate, and melted it in a bowl over a pan of hot water, and then just rolled them in it.  The impaling on a cocktail stick idea didn't work for me as they weren't hard enough to stay on the stick - the act of impaling started to push them apart!

Then, once coated, I put them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, as you can see above, and popped them back in the fridge overnight.

The YFG has easily eaten 5 or 6 of them since last night, some before they received their chocolate coating, and says they are lovely.  

Costs to me:

75g pack of Askeys ice cream wafers - 58p (Tesco)

100g chopped roasted hazelnuts - £1.49 (Tesco)

300g chocolate hazelnut spread - £1.11 (from a 400g jar at Tesco)

200g milk chocolate - 70p (2 x 35p bars from Lidl)

Didn't bother with the petits fours cases.

So, £3.88 spent, and 32 chocolates made, at a cost of about 12p each.  Heaps cheaper than the real thing!
The price for the real thing this morning is - a box of 16 for £4 or a tray of 24 for £6.

I think I have found something else to make for people at Christmas alongside the fudge, and having had a trial run, I think they may be popular.  This batch are being shared between the family and the ladies at the chapel craft club this morning.