Blissfully Simple Ice Cream Truffles

When it comes to our recipe for homemade ice cream truffles, simplicity is truly bliss. These chocolate-covered, ice cream bonbons only look gourmet — OK they taste gourmet too — but they’re insanely easy to make.

These festive treats are inspired by Italian tartufi. Sounds fancy, but you won’t believe how easy it is to make ice cream truffles. Just about as easy as it is to pop them one right after another in your mouth — and if you can identify with that, here’s a note to anyone trying to control their raging sweet tooth: keep a batch of these in the freezer for when you need just a bite of something sweet after dinner.

First, scoop out balls of your favorite flavor of ice cream. (To be honest, choosing one is probably the hardest part of this recipe. Call us vanilla, but we went with the classic.) Next, dunk those easy ice cream balls into an even easier 2-ingredient ganache — just melted chocolate chips and oil to keep the chocolate sauce from clumping when it freezes.

Then a lot of other recipes have you roll your little scoops in the toppings, but that just sounds like a recipe for a sticky, melted ice cream mess — so we used toothpicks for mess-less dipping. The only problem is, the toothpick leaves a little hole on top. We took that as an excuse to sprinkle on more yummy toppings to cover it up — problem solved.

We love easy dessert recipes like this one because they’re infinitely customizable; we used semisweet chocolate chips, but wouldn’t these be elegant in white chocolate? And the sky’s the limit when it comes to decorating — anything you can imagine on an ice cream sundae would be divine. To spark your inspiration, here are some ice cream truffle toppings we’re craving:

  • rainbow or chocolate sprinkles
  • chopped candy bars
  • crushed peppermints or candy canes
  • sliced almonds or chopped pistachios
  • toasted coconut
  • crumbled oreos
  • dark chocolate curls

The only trick to this recipe is keeping everything cold and moving swiftly so that your ice cream balls don’t start to melt mid-process. But if you get all of the ingredients ready to go before you get started (and clear a little room in your freezer for the trays), you — and your ice cream truffles — will be solid.

Ice Cream Truffles


Makes 24 truffles
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

  • 1 pint of ice cream (your favorite flavors)
  • 1½ cups (10 ounces) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips
  • 2 teaspoons vegetable or coconut oil
  • ½ cup finely chopped candy (such as Heath Bars, Butterfingers, Whoppers, etc.)
  • ½ cup of your favorite ice cream toppings (such as sliced almonds, toasted coconut, rainbow sprinkles, etc.)

Directions

  1. Line two small baking sheets with parchment paper, wax paper, or foil. Freeze the baking sheets for 10 minutes.
  2. Remove one of the lined baking sheets from the freezer. Working quickly, use a 1½-inch ice cream scoop, melon baller, or round tablespoon to scoop out round balls of ice cream. Place the ice cream balls on the prepared baking sheet. Return the baking sheet with the ice cream balls to the freezer, and repeat this process with the second baking sheet.
  3. Freeze the ice cream balls for 30 minutes or up to overnight until firm.
  4. Combine the chocolate chips and oil together in a microwave-safe bowl.
  5. Melt the chocolate in the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until the chocolate is completely melted (90 seconds or more depending on your microwave).
  6. Using a toothpick, dip the frozen ice cream balls into the melted chocolate and lightly shake off any excess. Return the chocolate-covered ice cream to the lined baking sheet.
  7. Remove the toothpick and cover the hole created by the toothpick with melted chocolate and toppings of your choice. Work fast, because the chocolate will harden quickly. Repeat this process with the remaining ice cream balls. You may need to remelt the chocolate in the microwave at regular intervals during the process to keep it in liquid form.
  8. Freeze the decorated ice cream truffles for 30 minutes or up to overnight until firm.
  9. Store the ice cream truffles in an airtight container and keep frozen.

If you’re into sweet little frozen treats, you should also check out our ice cube tray cheesecake bites and ice cube tray chocolates.

Recipe adapted from Real Simple.