A few years ago, my mom helped her parents fly from Arizona to Northern California for Christmas. When we realized it was probably the last time they’d make their usual holiday trip, we tried to fit in as many special things as possible: brunch at everyone’s favorite restaurant for blueberry coffee cake, driving by the houses in our town with the best Christmas light displays, and a tour of my mom’s new office.
Since we stopped by Mom’s work on Christmas Eve, the parking lot and building were completely empty, which made it easy for Mom to give us the grand tour. She led us up the staircase and through the glass entry doors, pointed out the unique Petri dish artwork in the reception area (she leads a science team!), and walked us to her brand new corner office.
After we laughed at the Einstein figurine and pictures of us adorning her desk, she continued the tour. We saw where the rest of her team worked, the other divisions on the opposite side of the hall, the spacious meeting rooms, and the communal kitchen with an adjoining library, which included a ladder on wheels to help people climb up to the tallest shelves to reach the books at the very top.
As someone who loved the library ladder scenes from “Beauty and the Beast,” I asked my mom if I could clamber up the ladder… And then she took a photo of my brother and me on it!
Before heading out, we passed through the festively decorated kitchen, and Mom pointed out all of the holiday treats still lingering: plenty of candy canes, bowls of individually wrapped chocolates, and boxes of truffles from See’s Candy. Knowing many of the people wouldn’t return until after New Year’s, we figured many of the chocolates and candies would probably turn a bit stale… So she said we could each take one or two for the road!
We peeked inside the box of See’s, but our smiles momentarily faded. The paper insert describing each candy had disappeared, so we had no idea about the flavors of each one! Mom played it safe, reaching for one she had already sampled a few days prior (she hates coffee and always dreads accidentally biting into one of those!), but I just reached for the one that looked the most dark chocolaty. (I ended up finding a luxurious dark chocolate ganache filling inside!)
Knowing how much Mom looks forward to See’s holiday boxes of chocolate truffles, I thought it’d be fun to make a homemade batch for her with a fun flavor that she’d truly enjoy. And since she looks forward to eggnog even more than Christmas chocolates…
I combined her two holiday favorites into these Healthy Eggnog Truffles! They’re deliciously sweet and full of that iconic rich spiced eggnog flavor, and they’re coated in a layer of decadent dark chocolate. (Mom definitely passed along her dark chocolate obsession to me!)
Yet unlike the ones from See’s… These healthy truffles contain no butter, oil, heavy cream or dairy — and they’re 23 calories too!
Continue reading & see the rest! ›› Healthy Eggnog Truffles
0 Comments