Description
Christmas Tree Cake Truffles are an easy no-bake holiday dessert made with Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes, cream cheese, and white chocolate. These festive bite-sized treats are perfect for cookie trays, gift-giving, and holiday parties. Ready in just 50 minutes with only 3 main ingredients!
Ingredients
For the Truffles:
- 10 Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 12 oz almond bark or white chocolate candy melts
For Decorating:
- Red food coloring
- Green sanding sugar
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes: These are the star! You can find them at most grocery stores during the holiday season. If you can’t find the Christmas Tree version, regular Little Debbie snack cakes work too—just adjust your decorations.
Cream cheese: Must be softened to room temperature. This is what binds everything together and gives these truffles their creamy, truffle-like texture.
Almond bark vs. candy melts: I prefer almond bark because it melts smoothly and sets with a nice snap, but white chocolate candy melts work beautifully too. Avoid using regular white chocolate chips—they don’t melt as smoothly.
Decorations: Get creative! Use red and green for classic Christmas vibes, or try gold sanding sugar, crushed candy canes, or festive sprinkles.
Instructions
Rip parchment paper off the roll and slap it on a baking sheet. Check that your freezer has space for the sheet to lay flat. Last Christmas I didn’t check and had to rearrange frozen pizzas and a bag of peas at midnight.
Unwrap your Christmas Tree Cakes and dump them in the bowl. Destroy them with your hands. This is therapeutic honestly. The kids fight over who gets to do this part. It’ll look gross when you’re done—all green cake mixed with white cream and frosting smears everywhere. Perfect.
Chuck the cream cheese in. Fire up your mixer. Let it rip for maybe a minute till you can’t see individual pieces of cake anymore. Mine always looks like weird green cookie dough when it’s ready. That’s what you want.
Scoop tablespoon-sized globs and roll them with your hands. I never make them perfect spheres. Some are lumpy. Some are oval. Who cares. Roughly golf ball size, maybe smaller. Line them up on your parchment paper. When you’ve rolled them all shove the sheet in the freezer and set your phone timer for 30 minutes. You WILL forget otherwise. I’ve forgotten twice and both times were disasters.
Dump almond bark in a microwave bowl. Zap 30 seconds. Stir. Zap 30 seconds. Stir. Keep going till it’s smooth. I’ve tried microwaving for longer thinking it’d be faster and burned $5 worth of chocolate. Also my house smelled like a chocolate factory fire for three days and not in a good way.
Timer goes off—grab your frozen truffle balls. Drop one in the chocolate. Roll it with a fork till it’s coated. Pick it up and let excess drip back in the bowl. Bang the fork on the rim a few times to get more off. Set it on the parchment. The first three will look janky. By number five you’ll figure it out. By number ten you’ll feel like a professional.
Speed matters here because that chocolate firms up in like 90 seconds. Scoop maybe 2-3 tablespoons of leftover melted chocolate into a coffee mug. Squeeze in red food coloring and stir till it’s red. Grab a spoon and zigzag it over your truffles. Doesn’t have to look neat—mine never does. Immediately dump green sugar on top. The second that chocolate starts hardening nothing will stick anymore so move your butt.
Walk away. Don’t touch them. Go fold laundry or scroll Instagram or whatever for 15 minutes. If it’s summer or you’ve got your oven running and your kitchen’s 80 degrees, stick them in the fridge for 10 minutes instead.
Notes
If your melted chocolate gets too thick during dipping, don’t panic! Just reheat it gently in 10-second bursts, or add a teaspoon of coconut oil or vegetable shortening to thin it out. Never add water or it will seize!
Use a fork or dipping tool instead of your fingers. Your hands are warm and will start melting the chocolate coating. A fork lets you lift and drain excess chocolate cleanly.
Make these truffles assembly-line style. Form all the balls first, freeze them all, then dip them all at once. It’s much more efficient than doing one truffle at a time from start to finish.
Tap, don’t wipe. When removing excess chocolate, gently tap the fork against the bowl rather than wiping it on the edge. Wiping can create a “foot” on the bottom of your truffle.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: No-bake
- Cuisine: American