Gingerbread Truffles (Gingerbread Cake Balls)

Because I'm on a roll, here's one more posting that is a cake ball variation. These are gingerbread cake balls, and I've been dying to try them ever since last year. 'Tis finally the season, so here they are, in an abbreviated posting, because I'm sure everyone is familiar with the basics of cake balls by now.



You start with gingerbread. From scratch if you'd like, but it really defeats the purpose of making an easy treat. I used 2 of these guys:

They are 14 oz each, a little more than the average cake mix when put together, so they need a little extra time baking. Combine the 2 mixes plus the ingredients specified on the box, and bake in a 9"x13" pan at 350F for about 45 minutes.

Once the cake is done and cooled (same day, next day, whenever), mash it up with a tub of vanilla icing. When it is well-combined, use the #60 scoop to scoop it into balls. Chill these for at least a half hour, if not a full hour.

Now comes the dipping. I'd recommend a variation on vanilla candy melts (the white and colored Wilton melts are all vanilla). Choose your color and one or two contrasting colors if you wish. Melt the main color, thin it with some vegetable shortening, and dip the balls. Wait for this to harden before you drizzle on one or two accent colors. For these, as you can see, I went with white for the main color, with red and green accents.

All in all, I am very pleased with the way these gingerbread truffles turned out. The spicy gingerbread flavor really comes through, they just taste like little bites of Christmas. Plus, not only does the recipe yield over 5 dozen, but they will be okay in the freezer for at least a month, and when they defrost, they don't have to be refrigerated.

If you like gingerbread at this time of year, I highly recommend these truffles, they'll go a lot further than a loaf of gingerbread!