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Spicy Chocolate Truffles are a rich chocolate truffle recipe inspired by Mexican Hot Chocolate with cinnamon and cayenne. These are an easy candy recipe for chocolate lovers everywhere!
What is a Spicy Chocolate Truffle?
Spicy Chocolate Truffles are balls of delicious chocolate that are sweet, bitter, and slightly spicy! I was drinking a Mexican hot chocolate one day and was inspired by the intricate, complex flavors. That tongue-tingling beverage motivated me to create chocolate truffles inspired by the unique flavors of Mexican chocolate!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Truffles are super simple to make with just a few ingredients
- These store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks
- You can even freeze them!
Ingredients in Chocolate Truffles
- Chocolate – Semi-sweet baking chocolate (I prefer Ghiradelli or Baker’s)
- Heavy cream – No substitutions
- Vanilla extract – always buy pure vanilla
- Cinnamon and Cayenne pepper – for that Mexican spiced flavor
- Chocolate melts – For coating the truffles. I recommend using Ghiradelli Candy Melts, but you can also use Almond Bark or Candiquik (all are sold in the baking aisle).
How to Make Spicy Chocolate Truffles
- Combine ingredients: Break the chocolate into small chunks and place in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Heat heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until it begins to bubble. Then, pour the heated cream over your broken chocolate. Stir until all chocolate has melted and the liquid has become smooth. Combine cayenne, vanilla, and cinnamon.
- Chill mixture: Place your chocolate mixture in the fridge and chill for at least 2 hours. Alternatively, you can let the mixture cool overnight.
- Scoop balls: Using a cookie scoop, create a ball of truffle about 1 to 2 tablespoons in size. Roll the ball into a uniform, circular shape and place it on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Continue until the mixture has been completely utilized.
- Decorate truffles: Use the chocolate melts to dip the tops of the truffles or utilize cocoa and powdered sugar to dust them. Decorate as desired.
Expert Tips:
- If your hot heavy cream doesn’t melt the chocolate all the way, feel free to pop your mixing bowl in the microwave and heat it for ten seconds at a time until melted.
- The decorating is where it gets interesting, so get creative! There’s no right or wrong way to do it. Dipped chocolate melt dotted with red sprinkles is a cute way to give a nod to the heat that the cayenne pepper brings.
FAQs
Chocolate truffles can be an array of flavors, from macadamia to raspberry to mocha. These truffles are a spicy, sweet, and bitter combination.
If your truffles are too soft, you likely need more chocolate. Too much cream will create soft truffles.
Chocolate truffles freeze best in a zipped plastic bag placed inside airtight Tupperware.
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Spicy Chocolate Truffles
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (226g) semi-sweet baking chocolate
- ½ cup (118ml) heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 10 ounces Chocolate melts for dipping
Instructions
- Break or cut chocolate into pieces. Place heavy cream in a small saucepan and heat just until it bubbles. Pour over chocolate. Stir until all chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. (If it is cold in your house and your chocolate doesn’t want to melt all the way you can put it in the microwave in 10 second increments to aid in melting.)
- Stir in vanilla, cinnamon, and cayenne. Chill mixture for at least 2 hours. You can also let it sit overnight.
- Use a cookie scoop (1 or 2 tablespoon) to scoop balls of truffle. Roll into uniform balls and place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.
- Melt chocolate melts according to package directions. Dip truffles in chocolate and top with sprinkles, if desired. Chill to set. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freeze.
Recipe Notes
- I prefer Ghiradelli or Baker’s baking bars
- For dipping, I recommend Ghiradelli Candy Melts. If you can’t find those, use Candiquik or Almond Bark (all three are sold in the baking aisle). You can dip these in milk or dark chocolate.
- In lieu of dipping, you can also roll them in cocoa, powdered sugar, or sprinkles instead.
- To decorate the tops, add leftover melted chocolate to a ziploc bag and cut off one tip to drizzle over the truffles after they’ve set.
Recipe Nutrition
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Spicy Chocolate Truffles are inspired by Mexican Chocolate! These are a rich chocolate truffle with cinnamon and cayenne for a little kick – they’re SO good and rich!
Love the idea of adding the cayene pepper for a ltittle kick. Have a Merry Christmas hearts and all 🙂
Thanks Laura! You too!
They are so perfectly smooth, round, no fingerprints, no dings or anything. They look like the came out of a factory 🙂 Awesome. I need at least a dozen 🙂
I was a little shocked. I mean, I rolled them and they don’t look like deformed brains. *shocked*
They look fantastic!! I all about not caring what season we are in when it comes to good. If I like pumpkin I am eating it in march if I like red and pink candy I am having it in July!
Thanks Nancy!
You’re really getting a head start on the holidays! 🙂 Too bad they didn’t make green heart sprinkles …
Anyways, I’ve always wanted to try the Mexican chocolate recipes. So it doesn’t taste like chili? Hmmm, how hard could it be to add a little spice to some chocolate? Everyone loves truffles and they are so classic! You’ve convinced me – mexican chocolate is on the to-do list!
Just a little warm spice flavor! Like coffee, it’s the perfect complement to the chocolate!
Dorothy, I’m all about the truffle indulgence too! Going into Godiva for a special treat never fails to pick me up on a sad day. I’m almost scared to make them at home because I know I’ll demolish the entire batch in one go. Worth it!
And that’s what I did! 🙂
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