In the Kitchen: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Truffles

I have to say, I impressed myself with this one. Words can hardly describe the deliciousness of these heavenly bites, though I was reluctant to eat them because they just looked so darn cute on the plate. Make them as a special dessert, take them to a party or package them as gifts – trust me, your friends will be impressed, too. The recipe is surprisingly easy (though you can pretend you slaved for hours) and you'll find a link to a printable recipe card at the end of this post.

Prep time: 30 min | Makes 30 truffles

Ingredients:

1/2 cup white chocolate chunks, wafers or chips

2 cups white and/or milk chocolate chunks, wafers or chips

1/3 cup gingersnap cookie crumbs, plus more for garnish

1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup canned pumpkin

1 tablespoon confectioners sugar

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch of salt

2 ounces cream cheese, softened

This recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of orange zest which is simply shavings from the skin of an orange. You can use a zester or the smallest part of your grater and scrape the outside of the orange against it. Do not go too deep, as you only want the orange skin, not the white layer underneath.

Now onto the recipe! In a large bowl add the pumpkin, softened cream cheese and orange zest.

Melt 1/2 cup white chocolate in a double boiler over medium heat or in a small bowl in the microwave as instructed on the package and add to the pumpkin mixture.

In a small bowl mix the gingersnap crumbs, graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add to the pumpkin mixture and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

Cover and chill until solid enough to roll into balls, about 2 hours.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop 1 teaspoon pumpkin mixture at a time and roll into balls. Set them on one of the baking sheets. It seems like there is not much filling in the bowl but don't make the balls too big, a little bit goes a long way when you eat them. I used a melon ball scoop to size mine and it worked great.

Set some gingersnap crumbs nearby to sprinkle on top.

Melt the remaining chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave, transfer to a small, deep bowl. Drop one pumpkin ball into the chocolate at a time, gently spoon chocolate over to coat. Using a small spoon or fork, lift the truffle out of the chocolate, let any excess drip off and transfer to the other baking sheet. Sprinkle a few crumbs on top. Once finished, chill truffles until chocolate is completely set, about one hour.

This recipe originally called for only white chocolate but I decided to try some with milk chocolate and they were equally delicious! I was amazed at how different the two tasted. I'd love to hear if you give this one a try, enjoy!

> Click here for a printable recipe card.

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