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These Pumpkin Cream Cheese Truffles are the perfect seasonal treat, combining the flavors of pumpkin pie and spiced cheesecake in one delightful bite!
As much as I love my sweets and post-dinner treats, after a big Thanksgiving meal (and knowing that I will be enjoying another leftover sandwich plate later in the evening:), I am a bit too full for a slice of pie or piece of cheesecake right then. In come these little beauties to solve that problem. One bite will satisfy that seasonal sweet tooth for anything pumpkin or spiced. The best description of these snow white balls– the love child of a traditional pumpkin pie and a spiced pumpkin cheesecake. In fact, it is a technique from a spiced pumpkin cheesecake recipe I have that I use to make the filling creamy and rich, like a truffle, rather than like a cream-filled chocolate. I’ll explain more below.
The original recipe came to me a few years ago via an e-mail from Whole Foods. I read the name and was instantly smitten. However, after reading the recipe and a few reviews, I realized I needed to make a few adjustments. The original called for part gingersnap crumbs and part graham cracker crumbs, but I love the taste of homemade gingersnaps, so I use only gingersnaps (pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap crust– oh, yes!). The recipe also called for orange zest. As much as I love the combo of pumpkin and orange, I omitted it for a straight spiced pumpkin pie taste. The original recipe also made 30 truffles, but they were only a heaping teaspoon each, so I doubled the batch for a nice-sized truffle. The biggest modification came from the reviews, which were good for flavor, but the filling was too wet and not stiff enough to roll. This is where the handy technique from Cook’s Illustrated comes into play. To remove the unwanted excess moisture from the pumpkin purée…
Line a baking sheet with triple-layer paper towels. Using an offset spatula, spread the pumpkin into a thin, even layer.
Place more paper towels on top to absorb additional moisture.
Once the towels are completely saturated, remove the top towels and grab one side of the bottom towel. Fold the pumpkin in half onto itself.
Flip the pumpkin purée onto the baking sheet and discard the towels. I actually squeezed several tablespoons out of the paper towel. Transfer the purée to the bowl of a food processor and proceed with the recipe.
There is still time to put these decadent treats on your Thanksgiving dessert table. A box or plate full of these, accompanied by a warm hug, will really show your family and friends how thankful you are. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!
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Pumpkin Cream Cheese Truffles
Ingredients
For the Filling
- ½ cup pumpkin purée, fresh or canned
- 1 ½ cups gingersnap cookie crumbs, homemade (about 10-12 cookies from my recipe), or store bought), plus more for garnish
- 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup white chocolate, chopped
For the Topping
- 14 ounces white chocolate or vanilla almond bark, chopped
- 2 teaspoons vegetable shortening
Instructions
For the Filling
- Place a triple layer of paper towel on a baking sheet. Using an off-set spatula, spread the pumpkin purée into a thin, even layer. Place another triple layer of paper towels on top of the purée and lightly press to absorb moisture. Once towels are saturated, carefully peel back the top layer and discard. Grasp one side of the bottom towels and fold the pumpkin layer in half onto itself. Repeat, flipping pumpkin onto the baking sheet. Transfer the pumpkin to the bowl of a food processor. Add the gingersnap crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, salt and cream cheese; process until smooth.
- Melt the chocolate in a medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave, stirring often to keep the chocolate from burning. Add the melted chocolate to the pumpkin mixture and process until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and process until completely combined. Transfer the mixture to a shallow bowl or container, cover and freeze for 1 hour or until firm enough to shape into balls.
- Line a baking sheet with a sheet of parchment or wax paper. Using a 1-ounce cookie scoop, shape the dough into 1 ¼-inch balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until ready to coat.
For the Topping
- Line a separate baking sheet with parchment or wax paper; set aside. Melt the chocolate (or almond bark) and shortening in a medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave, stirring frequently to keep from burning. Place pumpkin ball onto a small fork over the melted chocolate. Spoon the chocolate over the ball and carefully dip the bottom of the ball into the chocolate. Gently tap the fork on the side of the bowl to shake off excess. Use a toothpick to push the truffle onto the prepared baking sheet. Garnish with a few gingersnap crumbs; repeat with the remaining pumpkin balls. Chill the truffles in the refrigerator until set, about 1 hour. Truffles can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for 1 month. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Thanks for the taste test yesterday. These are perfect little jewels for ending a huge feast. Packed with flavor, perfect texture, enrobed in white chocolate make these a real winner.
Welcome, Mom:) Always more fun to share.
Oh my goodness, these sound so yummy. And they're pretty to look at to boot!
These are absolutely gorgeous – like a work of art, almost too pretty to eat, almost……..
Wish I would have found this a little bit earlier. But I still have some pumpkin in the pantry so will try this for a Christmas party. Really nice pictures too.
Happy Thanksgiving.
these look delicious! i am obssessed with anything pumpkin at the moment!
Oh my goodness – I have all the ingredients for this but decided not to try them tomorrow since so many reviews said they just fell apart. And a little late night FoodGawking brought me here and to the solution! Thanks! I shall try your method tomorrow and we'll see if I can have the same success!
These truffles are so, so pretty! I bet they would make beautiful gifts, too.
Oh, my…they look heavenly! Can't wait to give them a try.
I just bought a pan like the one shown in your photo. I LOVE it and look forward to picking up more.
Oh my! I've been wanting to replicate the pecan pie truffles from See's candy ($1.50 per truffle!!), but now I see these and I think I've changed my mind. Thank you for this.
I just made some peanut butter cheesecake truffles dipped in white chocolate but they were nowhere as pretty as your pumpkin truffles! Love the useful tips too, thanks for sharing the recipe!
These are just beautiful and what a unique way to showcase fall flavors. I'll have to bookmark these for next year's Thanksgiving. Or maybe sooner than that 😉
These look amazing-and my kind of treat–Just a little bite!
I just saw these on Pinterest! Oh my!!! They look and sound amazing! Pinned them for this fall. Thank you!
I love anything pumpkin so these are right up my alley! It may be July but I might have to make these soon!
Thanks for the moisture removal tip! That is going to come in handy in so many recipes.
You can also press the filling mixture into a wax paper lined container, until about 0.5 inch deep, chill till firm, and use a small 1-1.5 inch cookie cutter to make cute shapes to then cover in the topping mixture. 🙂 I actually find them easier to dip and get a nice even coat that way.
Can't wait to make these!!! My parents 30th wedding anniversary is at the end of October and we are having a party !!! Perfect for that
These were such a hit at work!!! Lesson learned; freeze the truffle before you put the white chocolate on them. Freeze for like an hour so you can fully coat each truffle. Mine were a little ugly, but were SO delicious!
Mine turned out a little ugly too -but no one seemed to notice…everyone loved them! Thanks for sharing your passion here!
Mine were a little ugly too – but a hit for a poker party and everyone raved about them – your passion was our reward. Will be blogging you credit for it soon. Thanks!
my chocolate will not stick to the pumkin ball. it keeps sliding off. Any suggestions?
I don't know why that would be happening.
Hi as I'm from Australia and we don't have pumpkin puree in cans, do I just boil pumpkin up, mash it and then proceed to step one in removing excess water? Looking for different flavoured truffles for my Christmas gifts, last year I made 9 different flavours so wanting to add new ones to the list and these sound delicious and different.
See my post about homemade pumpkin puree https://www.thegalleygourmet.net/2011/11/homemade-pumpkin-puree.html
Can I replace it with another cookie?
You could use graham crackers.
I can just use a can of pumpkin puree for this instead of making the homemade version correct?
Maybe too much vegetable shortening?
How do you get the white chocolate that white? I know Christopher Elbow adds white cocoa butter dye to his for that kind of brilliance, but yours look like they just came out that way–is it the photo or a particular brand of white chocolate you're using?
It must be the photo. I use Ghiardelli and Scharffen Berger. Using almond bark would also make it more of a brilliant white.
The same thing happened to me. I used almond bark? I stopped after two because they looked so horrible and am running to the store to try and get white chocolate chips to try. So bummed…
Make sure the chocolate or almond bark is just warm not hot.
Made these for thanksgiving and they were an out of this world hit!
Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
i am allergic to chocolate, is there any way i could just use the vanilla almond bark for this recipe? i love pumpkin and these look so delish!!
Yes, you can use almond bark.
Im not seeing where to add the cream cheese?
Bottom of the first paragraph…Transfer the pumpkin to the bowl of a food processor. Add the gingersnap crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, salt and cream cheese; process until smooth.
I love pumpkin, I going to make it for thank giving. Thank you so much
I have made these twice this month. The first time I made them, I somehow missed the part about the melted chocolate in the mixture. Even still that first batch was very good and disappeared very fast. This last time I made them how the directions said and again they were very good and disappeared fast! I gave you a shout out on my blog: https://ambersantics.blogspot.com/2013/11/be-thankful.html. Thank you very much for sharing the recipe.
These turned out almost as pictured! Not bad for first timer!
I have made the Whole Foods version of this recipe for several years but the centers were always too soft. The changes you have made are perfect! Trader Joe's triple ginger cookies are great for this recipe and to ramp the flavors to a deeper intensity I add 1 teaspoon orange peel spice and dashes of allspice, nutmeg, and cloves. Dipping them in milk chocolate makes them just as delicious as Godiva's Pumpkin Truffles. Thank you for this recipe! I send them home with Thanksgiving guests and received raving reviews.
I don't have a food processor, would a hand mixer work?
Yes. Just make sure the cookie crumbs are finely ground and that all the ingredients are incorporated before proceeding with the recipe.