This recipe is not ideal for those with no attention span. There’s not that much hands-on time, but I was really antsy immediately anyway. (My roommate Kyle, having watched me swear profusely at youtube while waiting for various things to cook, would argue I am always really impatient.) If you can make it through, though (and it’s really not that bad, much quicker than most of my breads), it’s well worth it. With very few steps, you can make a classy off-white pretty truffle. Or, as I did, a tacky neon one. Heck yeah!

Pink sugar courtesy my mom/King Arthur Flour

I think perhaps I’ll start putting ingredient lists up here, so people can get an idea of what they’re working with before the end of the post…

• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 9 ounces good quality white chocolate
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into thin slices
• 2 teaspoons freshly-squeezed, strained lemon juice
• granulated sugar, for rolling and coating
• colored sugar for coating (optional)
• food coloring (optional)

Start off by putting your heavy cream and lemon zest in a small, thick, non-aluminum saucepan. Heat over low heat until the cream comes to a simmer, stirring occasionally. This seemed to take forever, so I bumped up the heat, a bit, and it was ok. I wouldn’t go above sort of a low medium, though, as you don’t want to burn anything. Once you’ve reached a simmer, remove from the heat, cover tightly with saran wrap and let sit for 20 minutes.

While you wait, it’s not a bad idea to chop your white chocolate into tiny bits with a food processor, so that it melts faster and more evenly. Once chopped, combine with salt and butter in a medium sized bowl. Uncover the cream/zest mixture and put back over low heat to rewarm until simmering again. (Another eternity.) Remove the simmering cream and pour it through a strainer into the white chocolate bowl. Press with a spatula to get most of the cream through, without the zest.

The original recipe then called for using a double boiler to heat the mixture, but I was just out of convenient pots, so I heated it in the microwave. If you try in a double boiler, stir frequently until the chocolate is nearly all melted, and then remove from the heat and continue stirring until the rest of the chocolate melts and it’s blended evenly. If you just want to nuke it, use short (30 seconds initially, 20 after that) bursts, and stir thoroughly between each, to ensure you don’t burn the chocolate. White chocolate can be really finicky and go straight from solid to hot mess, so really stir longer than you think necessary between each microwaving, so that the heat that’s already in there can really work at the unmelted bits. Once the mixture is smooth and even, stir in the lemon juice. If you happen to like garish things, now’s also the time to stir in food coloring, and then transfer to a small bowl and chill for at least 4 hours. Once it’s cool (an hour or so in, it doesn’t have to be solid now, just not hot enough to cause condensation), cover tightly. You may think that moving it into a big pan where it would be thin and cool quicker would make more sense, but that’s going to give you a whole lot more scraping and shaping to do, so unless you’re in a crazy rush I wouldn’t recommend it.

Well that's...yellow.

Once the mixture is good and cold, use a small cookie scoop or a spoon to form small balls. If you don’t have a cookie scoop, don’t worry, neither did I, I just spooned out chunks and rolled them round. When you take a portion out, pat the whole surface of it into some granulated sugar. This will keep it from sticking to your hands, and can be repeated if the heat from your hands is melting the outside back to sticky.  Roll finished balls in sugar once more to form a nice coating. If you want to roll in colored sugar, don’t worry, you can use regular sugar until the balls have reached their proper shape, and they’ll still hold a good coating of colored sugar on top.

Store the balls in the fridge, removing about 15 minutes before you want to serve them.

I brought these to a party recently, and several people came up and said they loved them. I saw one person, however, throw out a half eaten one, so I think the recommended 1″ish size may be a bit more truffle than some people can handle. Or it could be that that girl has no taste and/or other personal problems.

White Chocolate Lemon Truffles

Adapted from What Megan’s Making.

• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 9 ounces good quality white chocolate
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into thin slices
• 2 teaspoons freshly-squeezed, strained lemon juice
• granulated sugar, for rolling and coating
• colored sugar for coating (optional)
• food coloring (optional)

Combine cream and zest in a small, heavy, non-aluminum saucepan. Heat on low, stirring occasionally, until it reaches a simmer. Remove from heat, cover tightly and let sit for 20 minutes.

Chop the white chocolate in a food processor, then transfer to a medium bowl with the salt and butter. Uncover and reheat the cream, bringing it back to a simmer over low heat. Pour through a strainer into the white chocolate.

Carefully microwave until white chocolate is melted, stirring frequently. Once smooth, stir in the lemon juice and food coloring, if using. Stir until well mixed, and then transfer to a small bowl and refrigerate at least 4 hours, until solid, covering tightly once cooled.

Using a cookie scoop or spoon, take chunks of the cooled mixture out. Coat in granulated sugar, and roll into spheres, using additional sugar if necessary to keep it from melting all over your hands. Roll a final time in colored sugar, if desired.

Store chilled.