The cherry jam hidden in the white truffle.

These white pockets of heavenly glory are filled with my Nonna’s homemade Italian cherry marmalade, which is a jam full of love. Those who cook with true passion always seem to bring out the flavor of amore in their food, and that’s what my Nonna does with her jam. I decided to add something extra to a normal white chocolate truffle, so I put a dollop of her marmellata in the center of each.

I created this recipe for white chocolate truffles at the same time I created my dark chocolate truffle recipe, and peppermint bark truffle recipe (see: The Gift of Christmas Truffles). The three different types of truffles made up a very nice Christmas gift for my family. Out of the three different

Nonna’s marmalades.

truffles I made over the holidays, this white-chocolate bite of glory took more creativity to create than any. I used my dear Nonna’s cherry marmalade, handmade by her and shipped from the Italian Riviera (If you haven’t seen my post on my Nonna’s marmalades, then I suggest you do by clicking here: Nonna Italia’s Marmalade ) Usually when I am feeling so ambitious in the kitchen, my creative juices create a large spill, if you know what I mean. But these truffles turned out to be a great success, even claiming the largest praise from the picky critic of the family, my brother, Alessandro.

White Chocolate and Cherry Truffles:

• 10 oz + 7 oz White Chocolate
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. Heavy Cream
• 1 tbsp Butter
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• Cherry Marmalade

Finely chop 10 ounces of white chocolate.

Cut the butter into small chunks and place them over the chocolate.

Heat the heavy cream on low heat until bubbles begin to form around the edges, stirring occasionally.

Heating the heavy cream.

Heat until bubbles form around the edges.

Pour the hot heavy cream over the white chocolate. Let it sit for 30 seconds. Whisk until the chocolate and butter is melted. If the chocolate doesn’t completely melt, put the mixture back on the stove over low heat until it does.

Mix in the vanilla. Cover the ganache and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or until hard.

The white chocolate ganache hardened.

Using a spoon, scoop out a spoonful of ganache and roll it into a ball using your hands. If the mixture is too hard and/or crumbly, let it sit out until it becomes soft enough to easily mold. Then, take the ball and split it open, placing a small touch of the cherry jam in the center. Close back up the truffle, and move onto the next one.

A touch of Nonna’s cherry marmalade in the center of the truffle.

Close up the truffle and seal the jam inside.

Place the balls on a tray lined with wax or parchment paper. Place the balls in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or until hard.

The truffles go back in the fridge, ready to be coated.

Finely chop the remaining 7 ounces of white chocolate and temper it. The easiest way to temper would be to heat the chocolate in the microwave set on high in 30 second intervals. Keep heating it until it almost completely melts, but you can still see small chunks. To get rid of those chunks, mix the chocolate with a spoon until they melt.

Tempered white chocolate.

Take the hardened ganache balls out of the fridge. Spear a ball with a fork, and dip the ball in the cherry jam. If the jam has a part of liquid, dip it in the jam’s liquid.

The liquid from Nonna’s cherry jam. If you don’t have such a liquid in your jam, then just dip the truffles in the solid marmalade.

After coating the balls with jam, dip each ganache ball in the melted white chocolate. I found that the best way to do this is to take a spoonful of the melted chocolate, and roll the ball, speared with a pick or fork, in the chocolate-filled spoon.

After dipping the truffles in cherry jam, dip it in the tempered white chocolate.

Let them sit out to harden for about 10 minutes or so. They are now ready to keep in a cool place, in the fridge, or to enjoy straight away!

White Chocolate Truffles with Nonna’s Cherry Marmalade.