Easy and decadent, this Christmas Truffle Recipe is the perfect Christmas dessert. Whether it’s for Christmas parties or Christmas day itself, these sweet little treats are great for any special occasion this holiday season. Make them ahead and freeze them, they’re also perfect for giving as an edible gift to friends and neighbors.
❤️ Why you will love this recipe
- Easy: These little truffles are so easy to make! It’s just a matter of mixing together the truffle ingredients, chilling them, rolling them into little balls, freezing them, and dipping them in chocolate (or whatever toppings you like!). This truffle recipe couldn’t be easier.
- No-bake recipe: Keep the oven off! This is a simple no-bake recipe. The only this you need to heat up is the chocolate, which can easily be melted in the microwave.
- Customize: The best part for me is that you can make these into different flavors! I often move half of the truffle mixture into another medium mixing bowl and flavor half with orange extract and the other half with peppermint.
- Make-ahead: This is the perfect dessert to make ahead of the Christmas rush. They keep really well in both the fridge and freezer.
- Gift: Pop these easy Christmas Truffles in a wee box with a ribbon and give them as a gift to friends and neighbors this holiday season.
🗝️ Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Chocolate: I used both dark chocolate chips and creamy white chocolate for these homemade chocolate truffles. I think milk chocolate may be a little too sweet for the recipe but give it a go if that’s your preferred chocolate. Sugar-free chocolate (like Lily’s Chocolate) is also a great option for a healthier option.
- Cream cheese: Cream cheese adds creaminess and a slight tang. I have not tried this with vegan cream cheese.
- Icing sugar: Powdered sugar makes these truffles sweet and rich. I actually tried this recipe with powdered erythritol and it is perfect for this Christmas truffles recipe. It adds a boozy hint as it is a sugar alcohol.
- Flavoring: You can add a few different extracts to suit your taste. Vanilla extract is great for a chocolate lover, orange extract makes this sweet treat taste like a Terry’s Chocolate Orange (my fav), and peppermint extract can be added to make chocolate peppermint truffles. Always a win at Christmas!
- Sprinkles: I picked up red and green sprinkles from the baking aisle in my local grocery store (Asda). You can also buy them online if needed. Check out my other options below for coating these holiday truffles.
🥣 How to make Christmas truffles
1. Prepare: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and allow the cream cheese to soften a little at room temperature.
2. Mix: Beat the cream cheese in a large bowl. Add the icing sugar and salt and mix everything together well.
3. Melt: Melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave in small bursts, or in a double boiler over medium heat on the stove.
4. Mix: Add the melted chocolate to the cream cheese mixture along with the flavor extract and mix well. It should make quite a thick mixture. You do this in a food processor or stand mixer, however, I found a little elbow grease, and a wooden spoon worked just fine.
5. Chill: Set it in the fridge for 30 minutes. I found that 30 minutes was just right for me – an hour was too long. If the mixture hasn’t set yet, put it back in the fridge for another 10 minutes at a time until it is more solidified but not crumbly.
6. Roll: Pick up a teaspoon of the truffle mixture at a time and roll it into 1-inch balls. I made 46.
7. Freeze: Place the chocolate balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and place it in the freezer for at least 1 hour (you can leave it longer if needed).
8. Melt: Melt the white chocolate either in the microwave or in a double boiler.
9. Dip: Dip each frozen chocolate ball into the white chocolate. You can either completely cover the truffle or just dip half to make Christmas pudding truffles:
10. Place on the tray: If you’re covering the whole truffle in chocolate, use one fork to lift the truffle out of the melted white chocolate and tap it on the side to remove any excess. Use a second fork to push the truffle onto the parchment paper.
Coated truffles:
Half-dipped truffles:
11. Sprinkle: Quickly, sprinkle the sprinkles on top after the truffle is on the parchment paper. The chocolate will set quickly because of how cold the truffle is so get those sprinkles on fast!
12. Store: Store in the fridge until you are ready to serve them!
🫙 Storage Instructions
- Fridge: Store these truffles in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
- Freezer: This is the perfect recipe to make ahead and freeze for later! They keep well in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
🪄 Recipe Notes & Tips
- Chocolate: You can make this easy chocolate truffles recipe either 100% white chocolate or 100% dark chocolate or a mixture of the two (like I did).
- Customize: I recommend trying different flavors and coatings to suit your taste preferences. I’ve listed below my favorite truffle flavorings and things I like to mix in.
- The mixture is too hard: If your truffle mixture is too hard to shape into balls after chilling in the fridge, it just needs to warm up a little. This has happened to me a couple of times when I’ve had to leave it in the fridge and do other things. I microwaved the mixture in the mixing bowl (making sure it was microwave-safe) for 30 seconds – 1 minute and it was the perfect temperature to roll into little balls. You can also just leave it at room temperature for a little bit and check it every now and then to see if it’s ready to shape.
- Wet your hands a little: Just a little tip, I found that when I washed my hand with cold water and lightly patted them dry, the truffles wouldn’t stick as much to my hand.
- Make ahead: These no-bake cheesecake truffles are a great idea to make ahead of a holiday party. They keep so well in both the fridge and freezer. I sometimes just make the truffle balls, freeze them, and then decorate them on the day of the party.
- Give as gifts: The holiday season is for giving! And these little treats make the perfect gift. Just pop a few of them into a wee cardboard box, tie it with a ribbon and tag, and give them away!
✨ Flavors, coatings, and other things to add to this Christmas truffle recipe
I’m all about customizing recipes and adding a little something extra where I can. The great thing about truffles is it’s really easy to make different flavors! Here are some ideas to get you started:
Flavor extracts:
- Vanilla
- Orange
- Peppermint
- Coconut
- Coffee
- Almond
- Amaretto
- Hazelnut
- Salted Caramel
- Ginger (with white chocolate)
- Rum
- Brandy
Alcohol for boozy Christmas Chocolate Truffles:
I’d add 1-2 shots of alcohol to the truffle mixture before popping it into the fridge. It may need a little more time to chill and set.
- Rum
- Brandy
- Whisky
- Champagne (great for white chocolate truffles)
Other things to add to the truffle mixture:
- 3-5 crushed sugar cookies to make sugar cookie truffles (so good!)
- Crushed oreos for oreo truffles
- Crushed homemade cookies (great if you’re on a specific diet like keto)
- Graham cracker crumbs
- Ginger snap cookies (with white chocolate truffles)
- Mini chocolate chips
- Peanut butter or peanut butter powder (you may need to add a little heavy cream (double cream) to get the right consistency)
Coatings for truffles:
- Melted white chocolate
- Melted dark chocolate
- Melted milk chocolate
- Melted peanut butter chips
- Cocoa powder (no melted chocolate)
- Icing sugar (or powdered sweetener)
- Unsweetened shredded coconut
- Crushed toasted coconut flakes
- Crushed toasted nuts (walnuts, peanuts, hazelnuts, pecans). This can either be sprinkled on top of the melted chocolate, or the truffles can be rolled in the nuts without the melted chocolate.
- Crushed candy canes for candy cane truffles. Again, this can either be sprinkled on top of the melted chocolate, or the truffles can be rolled in the crushed candy canes without the melted chocolate.
❓ How do I make these truffles keto-friendly?
It’s pretty easy! Just use a powdered sweetener like erythritol and your favorite (meltable) keto chocolate. You can skip the sprinkles and opt for toasted crushed nuts or toasted coconut instead if desired.
🎄 More Christmas recipes you will love
- Keto Chocolate Fudge
- Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Fudge
- Holiday Chicken Breast Recipe
- Easy Roasted Turkey
- 60+ Keto Christmas Side Dishes
Have you made this recipe? I’d love to know <3 Tag me (@makehealthyrecipes) on Facebook and Instagram, Pin it on Pinterest, and please give it 5 stars with a review below! Don’t forget to subscribe to the email list (top right of this page) for sparkly new recipes in your inbox.
📖 Recipe
Christmas Truffles Recipe
Ingredients
- 226 g 8oz Cream cheese
- 172 g 1.5 cups powdered sugar (or powdered sweetener like erythritol)
- 340 g 2 cups Chocolate chips, melted (dark or white, can be sugar-free like Lily’s Chocolate)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla orange, or peppermint extract (or your favorite flavor, see note #2)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 340 g 2 cups Chocolate chips, melted (to coat the truffles, can be a different color to the other chocolate. Regular or sugar-free)
- 2 tablespoons Sprinkles see note #2
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and allow the cream cheese to soften a little at room temperature.
- Beat the cream cheese in a large bowl. Add the icing sugar and salt and mix everything together well.
- Melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave in small bursts, or in a double boiler over medium heat on the stove.
- Add the melted chocolate to the cream cheese mixture along with the flavor extract and mix well. It should make quite a thick mixture. You do this in a food processor or stand mixer, however, I found a little elbow grease, and a wooden spoon worked just fine.
- Set it in the fridge for 30 minutes. I found that 30 minutes was just right for me – an hour was too long. If the mixture hasn't set yet, put it back in the fridge for another 10 minutes at a time until it is more solidified but not crumbly. See note #3 if it's crumbly.
- Pick up a teaspoon of the truffle mixture at a time and roll it into 1-inch balls. I made 46.
- Place the chocolate balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and place it in the freezer for at least 1 hour (you can leave it longer if needed).
- Melt the white chocolate either in the microwave or in a double boiler.
- Dip each frozen chocolate ball into the white chocolate.
- You can either completely cover the truffle or just dip half to make Christmas pudding truffles.
- If you're covering the whole truffle in chocolate, use one fork to lift the truffle out of the melted white chocolate and tap it on the side to remove any excess.
- Use a second fork to push the truffle onto the parchment paper.
- Quickly, sprinkle the sprinkles on top after the truffle is on the parchment paper.
- The chocolate will set quickly because of how cold the truffle is so get those sprinkles on fast!
- Store in the fridge until you are ready to serve them!
Notes
- Chocolate: You can make this easy chocolate truffles recipe either 100% white chocolate or 100% dark chocolate or a mixture of the two (like I did).
- Customize: I recommend trying different flavors and coatings to suit your taste preferences. I've listed my favorite truffle flavorings and things I like to mix in in the full post.
- The mixture is too hard: If your truffle mixture is too hard to shape into balls after chilling in the fridge, it just needs to warm up a little. This has happened to me a couple of times when I've had to leave it in the fridge and do other things. I microwaved the mixture in the mixing bowl (making sure it was microwave-safe) for 30 seconds – 1 minute and it was the perfect temperature to roll into little balls. You can also just leave it at room temperature for a little bit and check it every now and then to see if it's ready to shape.
- Wet your hands a little: Just a little tip, I found that when I washed my hand with cold water and lightly patted them dry, the truffles wouldn't stick as much to my hand.
- Make ahead: These no-bake cheesecake truffles are a great idea to make ahead of a holiday party. They keep so well in both the fridge and freezer. I sometimes just make the truffle balls, freeze them, and then decorate them on the day of the party.
- Give as gifts: The holiday season is for giving! And these little treats make the perfect gift. Just pop a few of them into a wee cardboard box, tie it with a ribbon and tag, and give them away!