This recipe is the second of three in my quest to come up with recipes that will use up a can of pumpkin puree. I realize that this is not something that is going to set the word on fire, but it will help keep those partially full cans from wasting away in your fridge or freezer. This recipe uses 1/4 cup of the pumpkin puree. After lack luster, albeit tasty results using standard grocery store white chocolate chips for my first attempt, I made my way to our local chocolatier for some white chocolate to see how that ingredient change up would turn out. He shared with some great tips to increase my success rate with these truffles. One of his tips was to bring the chocolate to 100 on the double boiler and then let cool to 90 degrees before coating the truffles. I am usually not much of a stickler for these types of details, but it seems that an additional effort is a necessary part of the whole holiday food tradition. Don't get me wrong, both chocolate versions taste great, but I was hoping for a little aesthetic panache the second time around, since this batch will be going before my peers at the holiday potluck with fellow Wisconsin Whisk members. Upgrading this ingredient definitely gave the truffles a smoother finish. As an added bonus, I discovered that the left over chocolate is a great topping for a gingersnap cookies. Keep a sense of humor when making this recipe, it is messy!

Pumpkin & Cream Cheese Truffles

From the Whole Foods Recipe Website

12 ounces white chocolate
1/3 c gingersnap cookies - about 9 cookies
1/4 c canned pumpkin puree
1/4 c graham cracker crumbs about 4 squares, plus more for garnish
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 T confectioners' sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Melt 1/2 cup of the chocolate in a double boiler over medium low heat for about 1 minute. Stir often to keep from burning. Transfer to a large bowl. Place graham crackers and gingersnaps into a food processor and blend until it reaches small crumb consistency. Add gingersnap crumbs, pumpkin, graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon and cream cheese and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Transfer to a shallow bowl, cover and chill until just solid enough to roll into balls, about 2 hours.

Line a large sheet tray with parchment paper. Melt the remaining 2 cups of the white chocolate and transfer to a small bowl. Roll 1 teaspoon of the pumpkin mixture into a ball in your hands, then drop into the melted chocolate. Working quickly, gently spoon the chocolate over the ball to coat or roll in the melted almond bark. I had good success rolling and retrieving it with a toothpick. Transfer to the parchment lined sheet tray and sprinkle leftover crumbs on top for decoration. Once you have used all the filling, put the tray in the refrigerator for 1 hour to chill before serving. If not using right away store in airtight container in the refrigerator. Makes about 30 truffles.