My friend Jane Deitrich and I went nuts over these delicious truffles that we made for Easter.

One or two notes: Be sure to form the centers pretty small since the coating and coconut fluffs them out quite a bit. If you are a fan of Weight Watchers, you might be interested to know that one truffle is 4 points.

Coconut Truffles

adapted from a recipe in Martha Stewart Living
heavily modified by Jane Deitrich and Ann Boyd throughout

This recipe makes about 4 dozen truffles.

1 pound sweetened coconut flakes
1 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (we used Plugrá)
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
1 pound finely chopped semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate
2 pounds white chocolate or almond bark

Preheat oven to 300°. Spread coconut on two rimmed baking sheets; transfer to oven. Heat until coconut is dry and beginning to turn a light brown color in some patches, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Place chopped chocolate in a medium heat-proof bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream, butter, and corn syrup to a full boil over medium heat. Pour hot cream mixture over chocolate, but do not stir; cover with a plate. Let stand, undisturbed, 5 minutes.

Slowly whisk mixture until combine. Refrigerate, stirring every 15 minutes. After 45 minutes, the mixture will thicken quickly, so stir every 3 to 5 minutes until thick enough to scoop.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a small spoon and your fingers, shape into small balls (about 1 inch in diameter). Transfer to prepared baking sheet and chill in the refrigerator, at least 10 minutes. (Alternately, place them in the freezer until ready to dip, up to 1 week.)

Place white chocolate or almond bark in medium saucepan; heat over low heat until melted, stirring frequently. (If you are worried about burning the white chocolate, which we nearly did, you can use the correct method: a double-boiler. Or simply place chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water; stir occasionally until chocolate melts.) Remove chocolate from heat; cool slightly.

Fill a wide, shallow bowl with toasted coconut. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove truffles from refrigerator or freezer. Drop truffle into white chocolate; quickly roll and remove with a fork, letting the excess coating drip off. Drop coated truffle into coconut; press coconut into coating. (This process worked well for us in partnership; one person dipped the truffle, the other person rolled the truffle in coconut.)

Place on prepared baking sheet. When one sheet is full, place in freezer; they should be set after 10-15 minutes. Truffles can be stored in airtight containers (or ziploc bags, if you are gentle) for 1 week (although I have stored mine for about 8 weeks and they are still yummy).