I have made these bon bons for the last three years. This was the easiest year by far. I worked out all the kinks during the first two years, and as a result, I have bon bon making down to a science. I call these chocolate bon bons, but have seen them called truffles as well. I don’t think that the name really matters, it’s the end result that people really notice. I like making these because they freeze really well, and can be made well in advance.
I’ve tried a few variations of the bon bon, but ended up making the simplest bon bon, while still being delicious. One year we put maraschino cherries in the middle of the cream cheese ball, and while it worked well, and tasted great, it was too labor intensive for what I wanted to accomplish. We also tried dusting the bon bons with cocoa powder once they had been dipped in the chocolate, again too labor intensive for what I wanted to do. While the variations had great tastes, and texture; I found that making the simple Coconut Cream Cheese Bon Bon was the best route for us to take.
Coconut Cream Cheese Bon Bons
- 2 packages Cream Cheese (softened)
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 cup coconut
- 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Here is my step by step on making the bon bons, along with all of my tips and pointers for making the process easier, and more efficient.
Step 1: Blend cream cheese and powdered sugar together with hand mixer or food processor until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
Tip: Allow the cream cheese to soften at room temperature, this makes the blending process much easier while combining the cream cheese and powdered sugar, and ensures that all of the cream cheese is sweetened by the powdered sugar.
Step 2: Once the cream cheese and powdered sugar are completely blended, add the coconut until evenly distributed throughout the mixture. This can be done with a fork.
Step 3: Place a sheet of parchment paper (wax paper) onto either a cookie cooling rack or cookie sheet that will fit into the freezer. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop the cream cheese mixture and drop onto the parchment paper (wax paper). At this point the cream cheese balls can be placed directly into the freezer.
Step 4: Prior to becoming completely solid in the freezer, each ball will need to be hand rolled to ensure that there are no coconut legs, these are the little pieces of coconut that don’t seem to conform to the shape of the ball. Hand rolling allows each ball to be dipped more easily into the chocolate, the stray coconut tends to fall into the chocolate once it becomes heated.
Tip: The cream cheese balls can be placed, while still on parchment paper, on some other flat object that will fit into the freezer, like a small plate. Make a flat space in the freezer so that the balls don’t roll off the flat surface.
Step 5: Using a double boiler on low heat, or a glass bowl that will sit on top of a pot, place the chocolate into the bowl and stir until completely melted. This step takes several minutes. Using the double boiler allows the chocolate to stay melted the entire time you are dipping the cream cheese balls without scorching the chocolate.
Step 6: Dip the frozen cream cheese balls into the melted chocolate. Here is the reason they need to be frozen: frozen cream cheese balls add less moisture to the chocolate than room temperature cream cheese balls. For anyone who has ever dealt with chocolate, it is a known fact that adding moisture to the chocolate causes it to become thick and lumpy. Once the chocolate reaches this stage, it is nearly pointless to continue on with that batch of chocolate. Hence, the reason for frozen cream cheese balls.
Tip: A fork can be used to dip the cream cheese ball into the chocolate, but for easier coating try an egg dipper (used for dying Easter eggs) made smaller for the cream cheese ball. We use a spiral fork that came with our chocolate melting kit a few years ago, but I am sure these can be purchased separately.
Step 7: Once the bon bons have been dipped in chocolate, they can now be placed in the freezer, or left at room temperature to set on their own. After I freeze mine, I place them in Ziploc bags in the freezer until ready to use. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.
The second year that we made Bon Bons I increased the powdered sugar in the recipe, thinking that the sweeter cream cheese filling would make it that much better. Big mistake! The reason I don’t make the cream cheese filling a sickly sugary sweet is due to the semi-sweet chocolate that it is dipped in. Since the coconut also has natural sugars, the combination of powdered sugar and coconut are able to sweeten the cream cheese without overpowering it. Tasting the cream cheese filling by itself makes it seem like it isn’t sweet enough, but once the combination of the cream cheese, powdered sugar, coconut, and chocolate meet, it’s a whole different story. The bon bons can be made without the coconut, but I like the texture that it provides. If the coconut is taken out of the recipe, additional powdered sugar should be added to the recipe to compensate.
I hope that this inspires you to make Coconut Cream Cheese Bon Bons. It’s really not hard. There are a lot of steps, but most of them are quick. The longest step is dipping the cream cheese ball into the chocolate, but with a little practice, it is easy to master.
