Monday Must Have: Chocolate Truffle Sauce & Gift Idea

Are you wishing it was still the weekend? Or maybe any other day than Monday?

I have three words that should make your Monday better from this point on:

Chocolate. Truffle. Sauce.

Tell me your heart just fluttered, because mine did. Just the mere mention of chocolate and you have my attention. And let me just say, that you NEED to try this recipe and share the love.

A couple of years ago, my Mom came across this fabulous recipe in the paper and after a few adaptions, we created what I think is a SUPER DELICIOUS Chocolate Truffle Sauce. It's the perfect homemade gift and easy to make.

Any type of food-grade jar will work for the chocolate truffle sauce. This year we decided to use the small 4 oz. mason jars, which can be used again and they are the perfect size to give someone a nice treat.



The Decoration:

To decorate the jars, cut out holiday material with pinking shears for a festive look. Just place the material over the lid and place the ring over the material. You should be able to tighten the lid even over the material.



You can also tie a ribbon with the directions attached around the lid of the jar. Because this sauce should be refrigerated, at the very least I like to include these simple directions:

- Refrigerate sauce immediately.
- When ready to use, take out of jar & warm for 20 seconds in microwave.
- Use as a topping on ice cream with whipped cream & nuts for a wonderful dessert.

You could also include the actual recipe with these directions.



The Recipe:

Chocolate Truffle Sauce
Adapted from Jan Dominquez's "My Special Chocolate Truffle Sauce" recipe.

Yields = Makes about 2½ cups sauce.

8 oz. Guittard Milk Chocolate Chips
8 oz. Guittard Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 1/3 cup heavy cream
5 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1) Place the chocolate chunks into a large, heat-proof bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan filled with hot (not boiling) water. Let the chocolate mixture begin to slowly melt.

2) In a small, heavy saucepan, bring the cream to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and immediately pour it over the chunks of chocolate, stirring constantly until the chocolate has melted. Keep the bowl positioned over the hot water because this will help keep the temperature at the melting point.

3) Once the chocolate is smooth and creamy, stir in the butter and vanilla and continue stirring until the mixture is well blended and smooth. *I've found that at this point, if I strain the chocolate mixture (a fine mesh strainer or china cap strainer will work great), it will be very smooth and you can sift out any tiny pieces of chocolate that didn't melt completely.

4) Pour the sauce into clean jars and let cool completely before screwing on lids. Refrigerate the sauce. It will become firm, but just scoop out the sauce as needed and either warm in a pan on the stove or at low power in the microwave. Or enjoy directly from the jar.



If you like to have a bite from time to time, this is what it looks like straight from the refrigerator:



Or if you prefer to warm it up, you can use it has a sauce over ice cream or other desserts:



*My favorite combination is a really good vanilla bean ice cream or a peppermint ice cream, with the chocolate truffle sauce and crushed peppermint candies--and yes, even though it is so COLD here (it's only 27 degress so far today), I did look for some ice cream and nope, there wasn't any in the freezer here in the Jillicious Kitchen (which is why I only have a picture of the toppings).



I love giving something homemade to my family and friends and this chocolate truffle sauce is always appreciated.

What is your favorite homemade gift that you like to share?