Recipe: Snow Blind Snowball Truffles

Recipe courtesy of Jenn Specketer of Bites, Barrels and Brews

Snow Blind Doppelbock, to me, is the Holiday season in a glass. It’s got great caramel, molasses and chocolate aromas. Very well balanced, you’ll taste some mild sweetness up front with the beer being dominated by a lot of dark fruit flavors like dates and raisins. You still get some chocolate, more cocoa than dark. And while it doesn’t taste boozy, it does give your body an overall warming sensation, which would be December perfection if there was snow on the ground! Bitter? The beer...no. Me? Possibly!A lack of fluffy white stuff to enjoy is a partial reason for pairing these Snowball Truffles with Snow Blind. Mostly though I didn’t want to overwhelm any of the flavors in the beer with the candy. It’s a solid, well made beer. It doesn’t need any help from food to “enhance it”.When I think of something to pair with dark fruits and caramel and molasses aromas, I think two things – nuts and coconut. The original recipe uses almonds, but I had pecans on hand and used those instead. You could also make the snow balls a lot prettier by using flaked coconut instead of finely ground coconut flakes. The Snow Balls are easy to make, require no baking and... are infused with bourbon or rum! I used Wigle Whiskey’s Landlocked Spice which rounded out the candy, adding some orange peel and vanilla flavors. They are light, delightful and quite possibly the only version of snow balls we’ll see Winter. I’m going to enjoy every last one!

Snowball Truffles

• 12oz white chocolate chips
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 1 cup pecans, ground
• 2 tbsp dark rum or bourbon
• 1 cup coconut

Instructions

1. In a bowl set on-top of a sauce pan with hot (not boiling) water, combine the chocolate and heavy cream. Stir until melted.
2. Remove from heat and add in ground pecans and bourbon. Pour mixture into an 8-inch square pan and place in refrigerator for about an hour until chilled.
3. Remove from fridge and let sit 10 minutes. Cut into 64 squares (I cut mine a little bigger so had less) and roll each square into a ball. I found letting the pan sit out a bit made rolling the balls easier. When rolled into balls, dip each ball into coconut and roll through flakes. Chill in fridge until ready to serve.
4. Don't forget to wash them down with a glass of Snow Blind!