Quick Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffles Recipe
With just five real food ingredients and a few minutes of hands-on time you can have a delicious, candy shop confection – peanut butter chocolate truffles – to give away or make for a special treat anytime.
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Can a holiday season go by without me sharing a recipe with a chocolate-peanut butter combination? Um, I don’t think so.
It’s a good thing most of my extended family (minus Brian, poor guy) loves it as much as I do, since most years our holiday goodie bags hold these amazing peanut butter chocolate truffles.
Mainly because they are delicious, but also because they are quick and easy to make. And at Christmas we all need a recipe like this in our back pocket, right?
These truffles will hold up well next to some of my past healthier peanut butter-chocolate goodies:
- Healthy No Bake Fudge Oatmeal Bars
- Honey Sweetened Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
- Grain Free Peanut Butter-Honey Brownies
- Healthier Chocolate Crispy Peanut Butter Balls
And also a few once-in-awhile full on treats (but all still real food):
- Crunchy Layered Peanut Butter Brownies
- Peanut Butter Brownie Sandwich Cookies
- Peanut Butter Swirl Bars
Back to these chocolate peanut butter truffles. They are amazing on a couple levels:
- They are super easy (like all truffles, really).
- They take only about 25 minutes of hands-on time.
- And they’re packed with dark chocolate goodness.
When you’re craving a bit of chocolate, one of these small balls satisfies it easily!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffles Recipe
Ingredients
- whipping cream
- bittersweet chocolate (best) or semisweet
- natural peanut butter (just peanuts & salt)
- butter
- pinch salt, optional
- chopped peanuts
Tools
- Small Saucepan
- Small Cookie Scoop
- Medium Glass or Ceramic Bowl & Wooden Spoon
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper (or Silicone Liner)
Directions
Okay, this recipe – can you add the ingredients to a bowl, heat a bit of cream, pour it over it all, and then mix it up?
Then you can make truffles!
Once the ingredients are mixed, you simply let it sit at room temperature for an hour before shaping.
How do you shape truffles?
The easiest way to shape truffles is to use a cookie scoop to easily measure out even amounts and roll the balls in chopped peanuts.
Remember it’s okay for them not to be perfectly round – that’s just an indication that they are handmade and way better than store bought!
Tip: If the mixture isn’t scoopable after an hour, refrigerate for a few minutes – but not too long or it will get too hard.
Rolling the 36 balls took about 20 minutes, so this is a special treat that you can make in a short amount of time.
Store the truffles in the refrigerator, since they soften at room temperature a bit.
Will truffles melt at room temperature?
Even though they soften, I’ve found that they’re okay to leave out on holiday platters for parties and get togethers because they don’t actually melt, they just soften a little.
And how great would a little box of these be as a gift? Or as your contribution to a family gathering?
But if you do share them, you’ll want to hold back a few for yourself, because these will go pretty quickly!
Gift Giving Package Ideas For Truffles
- White Bakery Boxes with Window 4x4x2.5 (25 Pack)
- Kraft Paper Brown Candy Party Favor Boxes 5.5×2.75×1.75 (25 Pack)
- Rectangle Clear Plastic Storage Gift Boxes with inserts 1.38×1.44×6.25 (50 Pack)
Pro Tip: Make two kinds to alternate in the boxes for a candy-store presentation. You can make the truffles and coat half with peanuts and half with cocoa powder. Or make one of these other easy options along with the truffles:
- Healthier Chocolate Crispy Peanut Butter Balls Recipe (Honey Sweetened, Dairy Free)
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles (gluten-free & maple syrup sweetened)
Can you make this with other nut butters?
Yes! Experiment with almond and cashew butters, using those nuts to roll the truffles in.
For those with nut allergies, try sunbutter and roll in chopped sunflower seeds or tahini and roll in sesame seeds.
How long will homemade truffles last?
Stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, homemade truffles will last two to four weeks.
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Easy Peanut Butter Chocolate Truffles
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips or semisweet
- 1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter (only peanuts and salt)
- 2 tablespoons softened butter
- pinch sea salt, optional
- 1 ¼ cups chopped peanuts, for coating
- cocoa powder optional for coating
Instructions
- Add cream to a small saucepan and bring just to a boil over medium-high heat (do not let boil).
- Meanwhile, add chocolate, peanut butter and butter to a medium glass bowl (add optional salt if you’d like a more salted-chocolate truffle).
- Pour hot cream over ingredients in bowl and let stand 5 minutes. Whisk until thoroughly mixed and smooth.
- Let stand at room temperature for an hour.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper. Use a small cookie scoop to make balls from the thickened mixture (if it's not firm enough to roll, place bowl in refrigerator for 10-15 minutes, but no longer than that), roll in chopped nuts (or optional cocoa powder) and place on prepared pan.
- Refrigerate until firm, then place in an airtight container to store in fridge.
Notes
- Almond butter + chopped almonds
- Cashew butter + chopped cashews
- Sunbutter + chopped sunflower seeds
- Tahini + sesame seeds
Nutrition
Other easy, real food goodies to make:
Easy Real Food Homemade Butter Mints
Easy Homemade Honey Caramel Corn with Moose Munch Variation
Soft Whole Grain Peanut Butter Cookies
This recipe has been updated – it was originally published in December 2015.
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Can I use regular peanut butter in place of the natural kind? It’s all I have at the moment without having to run to the store. Thanks.
Yes!
I assume that’s 1/2 >cup< whipping cream? I want to try this out tomorrow!
Ha! Missed that, Geoff – yes, you’re right. Fixing it and hope you like them as much as I do. 🙂
Great giveaway! The recipe doesn’t specify how much cream?? Does it have to be natural peanut butter or do you think it would work with regular (though not as healthy, but maybe that’s all I have at the moment . . .)? 🙂 Thanks.
I know!! I wish I could enter. 🙂
The cream is fixed now – it’s 1/2 c. – and the issue with the peanut butter is the extra sugar, so if that’s all you had I would use the darkest chocolate you can – maybe add a tablespoon of cocoa powder so you don’t lose that dark chocolate flavor. But that’s just my opinion. 😉
Do you have any suggestions as to non-dairy substitutes for whipping cream. I’m allergic to dairy proteins in all foods, but can use tofu, would that work? I’m also a gluten free person,so wheat products are out too. All this makes food prep interesting to down-right difficult around my kitchen. Thanks for what you may have to offer. And God’s blessings this Christmas! We truly need His mercy and grace now . Sydra Krueger
All the dairy substitutes don’t have the thickening quality of whipping cream, though the chocolate will thicken as it cools, so there’s that. I’m wondering if almond milk with a bit of corn starch added might work if you heated it first and used it to melt the other ingredients? You’d really have to experiment with that.
I can understand that cooking with those restrictions are a challenge, Sydra – sorry! And thanks for your kind words. 🙂