Amaretto Cheesecake Truffles

One year I got really creative and made cheesecake truffles in various flavors.  My favorite ones are the amaretto (anything almond or amaretto is pretty much my favorite, but I also made lemon cheesecake ones and chocolate-covered plain cheesecake ones:

Below is the recipe for the amaretto truffles, but you can basically just trade out the flavor extract you like (use vanilla for plain cheesecake), dip them in whatever kind of chocolate you like, and top them with whatever you want!  To color white chocolate, I've found food coloring doesn't mix well, but nestle sells green and red swirled white chips around the holidays that mix in quite nicely.

Ingredients:

16 oz Cream Cheese (Softened)

2/3 cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Almond Extract

2 Eggs

12 oz White Baker's Chocolate

Vegetable Shortening

Small Bag Sliced Almonds

Preheat oven to 350º.  Combine cream cheese, sugar, and extract in electric mixer and whip on low speed until combined.  Add eggs one at a time.  Poor into 9" pan (if you don't have a spring form pan, it doesn't matter, as this part doesn't need to be pretty) and bake at 350º for about 30-35 minutes.  Cool cheesecake for 1 hour, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours. 

Scoop cheesecake into small balls using a melon baller or tablespoon and place on a wax paper-covered cookie sheet.  Freeze cheesecake balls overnight.

Melt the chocolate using a double boiler (or other method that works for you).  Add shortening into chocolate until the consistency is smooth and easy to work with (about 2 teaspoons).  Dip each cheesecake ball into chocolate and coat, then replace on cookie sheet.  While the chocolate is still warm, add sliced almonds to garnish. 

Refrigerate for 2 hours and serve.