Chocolate Bon Bons

My awesome friend, Tiff, brought these little treats over to us at Christmas time. They were dangerous I tell ya! I did really well most of the month of December not eating any treats... then Tiff comes along an ruins the whole plan! I seriously loved these things. I love Almond flavoring, so it made these that much better in my eyes. They are sort of tricky, so I will add "Tiff's Tricks" as well. This recipe comes from her Great Aunt, and has been made in her family for years. It makes approximately 9 dozen {YIKES!}, so be prepared to share... or go into cardiac arrest.

Bon Bon's

aka: don't even think about dieting.

3 Cubes Butter, softened {NOT melted!}

5 Cups Powdered Sugar

1 TBSP Almond Extract

1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk

2 tsp. Vanilla

Semi Sweet Chocolate, melted

Cream first 5 ingredients together in mixer until very smooth. Freeze. Once mixture has hardened enough to scoop out with small scooper, scoop out and roll into small balls & place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Remove from freezer a few at a time and dip in melted semi sweet chocolate. Place on waxed paper and immediately sprinkle with crushed almonds. Let set at room temperature to set.

Tiff's Tips:

**You will find that the dough has to be just the right consistency to work with. When you scoop out the dough to roll into balls, you have to roll them quickly. If you work with them too long in your hands, the dough softens pretty quickly and starts to turn pasty and messy. Also, because the dough softens so quickly, you can't roll all 9 dozen balls at once. Tiff usually takes the dough out of the freezer and rolls about a dozen or so and then puts the dough back in the freeezer to harden again before she starts rolling another batch.

**One more thing: when you melt the semi sweet chocolate chips, to get the chocolate at the best consistency to work with, she usually adds about a tablespoon or so of crisco to the chocolate chips before melting them in the microwave. It makes the chocolate a little runnier and easier to roll the balls in, rather than thick and pasty. As far as the amount of chocolate chips you will need, it depends on how big your bon bons are, but when she makes them she usually uses about 1 bag of chocolate chips (12 oz) for every dozen and a half bon bons she rolls.