The creamy orange truffle center brings back memories of ice-cream trucks in the summer. Better yet, it only takes three ingredients to make Orange Creamsicle Truffles.

When I was a kid, ice-cream trucks circled our neighborhood on hot summer days. It only took small change to get a frozen treat back then so the ice-cream man was quite popular. My favorite treat was creamsicles.

There’s just something about the tartness of orange juice with the creaminess of vanilla ice-cream. These Orange Creamsicle Truffles capture that combination.

I love simple recipes. Orange Creamsicle Truffles are easy to make. You probably have all the ingredients already. Heavy cream, a few oranges and white chocolate.

Truffles are really only as good as the chocolate you use in them. White chocolate chips have vegetable oils and other ingredients in them that can separate out when they are melted. Fine white chocolate is cocoa butter, milk and vanilla.

I used Santa Barbara Chocolate Rio Tigre White Chocolate. It comes in small disks so I didn’t have to chop it up. Lindt or Green and Blacks also work. If you buy a chocolate bar, chop it up into small pieces so it melts more easily.

The other secret to these truffles is fresh grated orange zest. I used a fine grater to get mine. You want to grate just down to the rind (the white part just under the peel). The rind is bitter but the peel is loaded with orange oil. The zest also gives a slight orange color to the truffle filling. You can’t use orange juice because that will make the chocolate seize.

Heating the cream and orange zest together releases the orange oil and refrigerating overnight helps the flavor develop giving the truffles more orange flavor.

The other trick to making truffles is to let the hot cream melt the chocolate gradually. Letting the chocolate and hot cream sit together for 10 minutes helps emulsify the mixture.

Orange Creamsicle Truffles will delight friends and family who receive them as gifts.

Yield: 30 truffles

Orange Creamsicle Truffles

Ingredients

Filling

12 ounces fine white chocolate (2 ½ cups), finely chopped
fresh grated zest from 2 medium oranges
½ cup heavy whipping cream

Coating

2 cups white chocolate
Optional: candied orange peel for decoration

Instructions

Put heavy cream and orange peel in a small saucepan. Heat over medium high, stirring, until the cream bubbles around the edges. Refrigerate overnight.
Put white chocolate into heat proof bowl. Reheat cream until just simmering (bubbles around the edges). Pour over white chocolate. Wait 10 minutes. This begins the melting process and prevents the chocolate from separating. Then stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is combined.
Cool until just set. Use a mellon baller or spoon to portion out 1 inch balls of the truffles. Roll in the palm of your hands to make "perfectly" round.
Melt white chocolate for coating in the top of a double boiler. Keep a few pieces behind for "seeding" to temper the chocolate. As the chocolate cools, add some pieces of un-melted chocolate. Cool to 98°F.
Put cold truffles in melted chocolate and roll around to coat. Remove with a fork and set on parchment paper or a wire rack to solidify. White the chocolate coating is still warm, sprinkle top with small pieces of candied orange peel if desired. Cool completely.

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