These 5-ingredient, no bake Vanilla Creme Balls are the perfect easy candy to make for family, friends and neighbors this holiday season! A creamy vanilla center, coated in chocolate and toasted almonds.
Happy Thanksgiving weekend everybody! We hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year with a few friends. We had a blast, but I was completely exhausted afterwards. Turns out that hosting a feast while 7-months pregnant can really wear a girl out! Nothing that some leftover lemon sour cream pie this morning couldn't help with ;-).
Are you all in full Christmas mode yet? We will officially set up Christmas tomorrow. I can't wait to get our tree and decorate it with my kids. My husband and Jackson set up the Christmas lights outside our house yesterday and the squeals of excitement from my little boy made me so happy. Christmas with toddlers is so much fun!
I love giving homemade candy to friends and neighbors for Christmas every year. My go-to is usually homemade caramels, but I have tons of delicious homemade candy recipes on my site to choose from. I'm excited to add this amazing Vanilla Creme Balls to the list!
These Vanilla Creme Balls are a total copycat of a candy made popular by store in Brigham City, Utah called Idle Isle Candy. They sell lots of old-fashioned hand-dipped candies, but their Idle Isle candy, or "Vanilla Creme Balls", as I'm calling them, are what they are best known for. They are super easy to make and super cute and festive too.
Start with a really simple, 4-ingredient cream filling. Roll the filling into balls and freeze them until you're ready to dip. The filling can be made weeks in advance if you'd like. Then, dip the little cream balls in melted chocolate and toasted almonds. YUM!
Some tips for this recipe:
Make the cream filling balls at least 1 or 2 days in advance. They hold together better when they've had plenty of time in the freezer. You can also toast and chop the almonds a day in advance if you want.
Use high quality chocolate for dipping, like Ghirardelli chocolate chips or large Hershey's bars. The better quality the chocolate the easier it will melt and the better it will taste!
Hope you family, friends, and neighbors love these little Vanilla Creme Balls as much as we do!
Vanilla Creme Balls
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 4 cups sifted powder sugar
- dash salt
- 1 lb. high quality chocolate (I use ghiredelli or hersheys bars)
- 1 lb sliced almonds, toasted and finely chopped
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl combine the butter, condensed milk, vanilla, powder sugar and salt. Mix well and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes, or until firm enough to handle.
- Roll the dough into small, 1/2 tsp balls and place on a lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze cream balls overnight, or at least for 8 hours. (Cream balls can be frozen in an airtight container for several weeks. It's a great time saver to make these ahead of time!)
- While cream is in the freezer you can toast the almonds (this can also be done in advance).
- Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced almonds and cook, tossing gently, until they begin to toast golden brown. This should only take a few minutes. Be careful not to let them burn. Allow to cool and then use your hands to gently crush them into very pieces, into a bowl. Set aside until you're ready to use them.
- Once the cream filling is frozen, melt your chocolate. I like to melt mine in the microwave, on low power, in 15 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until smooth.
- Dip frozen balls in chocolate, then in almonds. This is great to do with a companion, if you can, so it goes faster. Refrigerate until ready to eat.
Notes
*If you don't want to make this big of a batch, you can always cut this recipe in half!
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