Nutella Truffles

Awesome, easy, impressive recipe.  I will be making these every Christmas.  Roll them in whatever you want; I used toasted, chopped hazelnuts, toasted coconut and cocoa.

Source: http://www.roxanashomebaking.com/nutella-truffles-recipe/

Ingredients:
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup butter, in chunks
3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used semi sweet)
1/3 cup chopped, toasted hazelnuts
1/3 cup nutella
things to roll them in

Directions:

Heat the heavy cream over medium heat in a pot until almost boiling.  Pour over chocolate chips and butter in a bowl (I actually had to add the chocolate chips and butter to the pot of cream to get it to melt because my kitchen was too cold, the cream didn't stay hot enough to melt the chocolate in the cold bowl.  Turn the heat and just keep the pot on the element if you do it this way- whisk continuously till smooth).  Once chocolate is melted and incorporated, add nutella and nuts.  Mix well.  Cover bowl and put in fridge for at least 2 hours.  Once hardened, take tsp pieces of ganache (chocolate mixture) and roll into balls and toss in toppings (I used coconut, nuts and cocoa).  Place in air tight container.  If you find they get too soft, put in fridge for a while.  Serve at room temperature.

Homemade Turtles (done in half an hour)

Source: http://www.piarecipes.com/2012/12/pecan-salted-caramel-candies.html

This is a great fake out recipe.  It's technically homemade but it uses all the short cuts so there's minimal effort but your friends and family have no idea.

Note: You can use chopped pecans like I did or you can line up whole pecan bunches instead. I would use 3 pecans per bunch.

Note: Recipe can easily be scaled up or down.  Just do as many as you want. It's a formula more than a recipe.

Ingredients (for 25 pecans):

75 pecans chopped or whole
25 wrapped caramels (or a block of caramel that you've cut into 25 pieces)
25-50 dark chocolate wafers (those little disks great for melting- mine were so thin so I used 2 per turtle)
coarse sea salt (optional) for garnish

Directions:

Unwrap caramels.  Chop pecans and bunch them into piles (or make piles of 3 whole pecans side by side).   I used my silicone baking mats on a baking sheet for these.  They popped off really easily.  If you don't have silicone, use parchment paper or gently grease your sheet.

Squish the caramels into flatter disks (I just pushed down with my hand on the caramel on a cutting board.) Put a squished caramel on each pile of pecans.  Pop in 325 oven for a few minutes.  Pull out and place 1-2 chocolate disks on each caramel.  Sprinkle with salt if desired.  Wait till cooled, then remove and enjoy.