These tasty, bite-sized little morsels combine two of my favourite things: ginger biscuits and cream cheese. Oh, and chocolate. Which I realise may sound like an unappetising combination. But, honestly, they’re like Pringles… once you pop, you will never want to stop eating them.
I like to use low-fat cream cheese, and tell myself they’re basically a health food. But they’re absolutely not. They’re indulgent, lightly-spiced, crumbly, cakey, mouthwateringly sweet and so moreish they should probably be illegal. Go on, treat yourself…
Makes around 18 truffles
Ingredients:
200g ginger snap biscuits (roughly 23-24)
60g cream cheese, at room temperature
150g white chocolate
Method:
Pulse the biscuits in a blender until they turn into fine crumbs (or, if you don’t have a blender, put them in a sealable plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin… it’s very therapeutic). Set aside a dessertspoon-ful of the crushed biscuits to top your truffles.
Add in the cream cheese and whizz until it starts to come together. You may need to finish it in a bowl with a spoon or a fork – you want to get to the stage where they’re evenly blended.
At this stage, you may need to put the mixture in the fridge for ten minutes or so to harden up. It all depends on the temperature of your kitchen. It should be pliable but not too soft.
Then, using your hands, roll the mixture into small balls, around the diameter of a 10p piece. Place them on a plate – there should be enough to make around 18 – and then pop this back in the fridge while you melt the chocolate.
Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it in a Pyrex bowl. I do mine in the microwave, stirring in between 20-second bursts, but you can also do it over a saucepan of boiling water on the hob. Set the chocolate aside and allow it to cool slightly.
Prepare a board covered in greaseproof paper. Then set up your dipping station: you’ll need a fork to dip the ginger balls in the chocolate, allow any excess to drip off, and then pretty swiftly transfer them to the board to harden.
As the chocolate is setting, sprinkle a little of the leftover ginger crumbs on each truffle (as above). Let them harden completely (I prefer to do this on a worktop in the kitchen rather than the fridge, but if you’re in a hurry the fridge is fine). Because of the cream cheese, they’ll keep best in the fridge – and if you can hold off eating them, they’ll last up to five days.
Tip:
If you don’t like ginger, use whatever biscuit you fancy – Hobnobs, Oreos, even Kit Kats should cut it. Stick to the same quantities and play around with how much cream cheese you use; the squidgier the biscuit, the less you’ll need. It's a great way of using up open packets of biscuits that are going soft, too, as they don't need to be strictly fresh for this recipe.