Dark Chocolate Peppermint Truffles

Oh, hello there! Guess who remembered she writes a blog? Yeah, I've been MIA for a few reasons and now I'm back for more crafty fun. First I thought I'd beg your forgiveness by sharing these yummy truffles with you. Am I forgiven? Excellent.

Not only did the holidays get me bogged down, I also changed up my work life by quitting one job to go Full Time at the other! Yay! I'm super happy about it, but I have had to adjust to a new schedule, which now allows me to actually see my husband more than a few minutes each day while we are both awake. Don't worry too much, I have lots of crafty projects I am working on that I will share with you soon. Now, on to the truffles.

These are super easy, to make them all you need is:

1 pound of dark chocolate
1 cup heavy cream (you can substitute full fat coconut milk for the vegans in the house)
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup crushed peppermint sticks (I prefer the soft peppermint sticks, but you could use candy canes as well)

Start by chopping up your chocolate into small pieces, you want them to be as small and as uniform in size as possible so they melt evenly. Once the chocolate is all chopped up, pour it into a heat safe bowl.

Next, heat your cream in a small saucepan on the stove top. Stir continuously to prevent scorching. Your cream should be all ready to go once small bubbles start forming around the edges of the pan, we aren't bringing this to a boil, just getting it nice and hot.

Add your teaspoon of peppermint extract to the chocolate, then pour all of your cream on top. Don't stir yet, just let it all hang out for about 3-5 minutes. Then, go ahead and stir slowly and watch all the chocolate and cream melt together into yummy truffle goodness. If you have some small chunks that don't melt all the way, you can pop this in the microwave for 10 second intervals and stir after each one until your mixture is nice and smooth.

Let this stand for about an hour, then scoop out small balls of chocolate and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. If your truffles need to firm up more before dipping them in crushed peppermint candy, refrigerate them for about 10 minutes. Otherwise, you can start dipping them right away and place them in the refrigerator to set up afterward.
Keep them in an air tight container in the refrigerator and they last a couple weeks (well, if they actually stay in there that long). If you plan to server these at a get together, I generally take them out of the fridge an hour ahead of time and serve them room temperature. SO GOOD!

With Valentine's Day on the way, I have another remix on these you could try: Instead of peppermint extract add a couple Tablespoons of Amaretto and then roll these in sliced almonds! You can also mix up your chocolate flavors: dark, milk, bittersweet, just make sure you have a pound of chocolate (chocolate chips will taste fine if it's all you have, but the stabilizers in them will make your final chocolate mixture a little grainy looking, so go forthe big chocolate blocks if you can).

Hot Cocoa Sugar Scrub

This is a great last minute gift to whip up (and it literally takes only about a minute!). Great as a hostess gift or stocking stuffer, you probably have almost everything in your cupboards right now!

To make this sugar scrub you will need:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 cup oil of choice (a very light oil with little odor is important I recommend Sunflower of Safflower oils, Grapeseed oil also works well)
1/2 teaspoon Vitamin E Oil (optional-helps preserve freshness of product, recommended to increase shelf life)

You can also get extra festive and add in some peppermint essential oil if you want to make Peppermint Hot Cocoa scrub(about 3 drops should do)!


Mix all of the ingredients together well and put into container of your choice. I recommend plastic containers with air tight lids (you can find lots of pretty containers online or in craft stores) as plastic will not break should it be dropped in a bathroom or kitchen and risk causing injury. This is an especially yummy Winter scrub and I love it for my super dry hands and elbows this time of year! Simply wet hands, rub on the scrub and rinse thoroughly.


This product will stay fresh about 2 weeks without the addition of vitamin E, with the vitamin E oil it has a shelf life of 4-6 weeks (you can also elongate the shelf life of your product by storing in the refrigerator).


The link above is a Google affiliate Ad, any purchases made from the above link will result in a commission to myself, this is not a paid post.

Give Handmade

It's Holiday time, and while I will be posting a few easy crafts that can be done at the last minute, I fully acknowledge that we can't make all the gifts for everyone ourselves. That is when it's great to have sites like Etsy, that can provide lots of great handmade gifts for the awesome people in your life! Here are a few shops with super cute items that I found while perusing gifts the other day, I hope you enjoy them :)

Pictured at the top of the post are some earrings from Adriana Soto. I really love her jewelry and plan on "hinting" at my husband that several items here would be a great addition to the loot in my stocking. There are several great statement pieces, as well as some more understated things that would cater to almost anyone's taste and budget.

I found some great cards and stationery from Sweet Bella Stationery. I originally found their Etsy shop, but they have this great website you can check out. Not only are the Holiday cards cute, but don't forget Thank You notes for all the gifts you receive!

When doing a handmade post, I can't ignore all the great talent that comes from right here in Portland, OR. Nell & Mary is a great shop with various home textiles and they are great! They use eco friendly materials and hand print the designs in their small Portland studio. Why get your friends and family members the same old pillows, dishtowels, etc that everyone else has? Get a gift that is unique and handmade in the U.S.!

Finally, if you are looking for a super cute stocking stuffer, look no further than these great coin purses from oktak. They have bright fabrics and cute embroidery details! I, of course, am partial to this one with little rain clouds :)

One of the greatest things about Etsy shops is that a brief convo with the owner can often get you one of a kind, personalized items, and this time of year bargaining for gift wrap to get your item shipped to the recipient on time isn't hard either!