Making chocolate truffles!

This weekend I spent a good deal of time making some wonderfully delicious chocolate covered treats. The process was really long but that was mostly because I kept running out of supplies, and needing to go back to the store. I also learned that white chocolate is really hard to work with; too bad it's so expensive here!


First order of business was cooking pumpkin for the first time ever. I lucked out at the grocery store and found some pre-cut and peeled chunks of pumpkin, which was great because that saved a lot of time taking all the goop out from a fresh pumpkin. Next was an adventure in pureeing said pumpkin. I have splash marks all over my kitchen back splash and my shirt!

From there I went on to mixing up three sets of truffles, a pumpkin spice, an egg-free cookie dough, and an oreo cream cheese. By the end of the weekend, here's what I produced:

                                            Gingersnap Pumpkin Truffle

                     White and Dark Chocolate-Covered Oreo Cream Cheese Truffles
                                       (I think the white ones look awesome!)

             And finally, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles, as yet undecorated.

Of course I have by now sampled them all and they are fabulous! I really like the richness of the oreo truffle, and the spices of the pumpkin truffle. And you can never go wrong with a good old cookie dough treat!

That's what I call a good weekend! We made it even better by joining a couple of our friends for a hearty meal at the meat buffet restaurant for dinner on Sunday. In this place you cook all your own food at grills on your table, so the buffet is all raw meats and side dishes. You just choose what you want (pork, beef, seafood, chicken...) and take it to your table to cook as you desire. Then you can fill up on all your favourite Korean side dishes like noodles, dumplings, kimchi, lettuce mushrooms and garlic, etc. All this for the bargain price of only around $12. If you ever come to Korea, we'll stop in there for a good meal. As an added bonus, they have free ice cream for dessert!

Next up on my list to get done later this month are Christmas cookies. I think I'll enlist some help from my friends on those, since standing up for a long time gets uncomfortable. Plus, then I get to share my treats, which I think is the best part! This year's Christmas cookie list consists of gingerbread men, candy canes, and Christmas shapes sugar cookies. I'll post some pictures when they get done.

(recipes and instructions for the truffles will be added soon)