These Golf Ball Truffles and Putting Green Brownies are perfect for the golf lover in your life! Rich, fudgy brownies are topped with frosting “grass” and a delicious white chocolate truffle that looks JUST like a golf ball!
With Father’s Day coming up this weekend, I’ve got masculine stereotypes on the brain! Sorry, guys—do you get sick of being reduced to power tools, grilling, and bushy mustaches? If so, good news—I’m branching out and working with the “all dudes love golf” stereotype today. So I’ve gotcha covered!
Truly, I know that not all fathers enjoy golf—I don’t even think my own father has stepped foot onto a golf course that didn’t have “miniature” in front of it—but the moment I saw these cute golf ball candy molds, I was powerless to resist the allure of a golf ball dessert. And even if your own particular father-person in your life isn’t a golfer, we all probably know SOMEONE obsessed with the sport. These mini brownie desserts would look equally at home at a birthday party or golf viewing party! Time for you all to pick up what I’m putting down, is what I’m saying.
So let’s break down the components of these babies. It starts with a rich, fudgy brownie, squat and dense and packed with dark chocolate flavor. The brownies are cut into rounds, and topped with green buttercream applied using a grass tip, so it looks like the well-groomed grass of a putting green.
The pièce de résistance, however, is the perfectly spherical white chocolate truffle on top, that bears an uncanny resemblance to a real golf ball. It’s made with a special half-spherical golf ball mold, and when you join those two halves together, you have a candy that could easily fool someone into thinking it’s the real thing.
You can make hollow golf balls, or solid white chocolate golf balls, but since it’s Father’s Day, and since the fathers in my stereotype-filled world enjoy a boozy dessert, we’re going to fill these with white chocolate-rum ganache, spiked with orange zest and cinnamon. They’re amazingly complex and flavorful, and the citrus/cinnamon combination compliments the spicy rum and sweet white chocolate perfectly.
The final result is a perfect single-serving dessert that has a little bit of everything: dark chocolate brownies for the chocoholics, lush buttercream for the frostingphiles, white chocolate-rum truffles for the boozehounds, and a darling golf theme for everyone with eyeballs!
Make these for the golf lover in your life, you WON’T be sorry! Or just use the recipe and adapt it to a different candy mold or theme altogether—it’s very flexible and definitely shouldn’t be pigeonholed as a father’s-only dessert. Enjoy!
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Golf Ball Truffles and Putting Green Brownies
Ingredients
For the Golf Ball Truffles:
- 1 lb white candy coating melts
- 12 oz white chocolate chips, or chopped white chocolate
- 6 TBSP heavy cream
- 2 oz unsalted butter, (4 TBSP), at room temperature
- ¼ cup rum, can substitute additional ¼ cup cream + 1 tsp vanilla if desired
- 1 TBSP orange zest
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
For the Brownies:
- 1 lb unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 lb semi-sweet chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate
- 6 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
- 6 large eggs
- 2 TBSP instant espresso powder, or instant coffee
- 2 TBSP vanilla extract
- 16 oz granulated sugar, (2 ¼ cups)
- 5.66 oz all-purpose flour, (1 2/3 cup)
- 1 TBSP baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
For the Buttercream:
- 12 oz powdered sugar, (3 cups), sifted after measuring
- 4 oz unsalted butter, (1/2 cup, or 1 stick), at room temperature
- 2 tbsp milk, more if necessary
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
- Green gel food coloring
Instructions
To Make the Golf Ball Truffles:
- Make sure your golf ball candy molds are clean and completely dry.
- Place the white chocolate candy coating in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after every 30 seconds to prevent overheating. Stir until the coating is melted and smooth. Use a spoon or candy scoop to fill each cavity in the mold with white coating, coming up to the top. Let the mold sit for 2-3 minutes, until the coating just starts get a little thicker.
- Place a piece of parchment or waxed paper on your work surface, and turn the mold upside-down, letting the excess coating drip out onto the parchment. (You can re-use this extra coating for another project!) Once only a thin layer of white coating remains, set the mold down on the counter and drag a bench scraper, metal spatula, or knife across the top to remove any excess coating and give the golf balls smooth edges. Refrigerate the mold while you prepare the filling.
- Combine the chopped white chocolate and cream in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave together in 30-second increments until mostly melted. Whisk until smooth—at first it might seem too thick, but keep whisking and it will loosen up until it’s the texture of a thick liquid. Add the room temperature butter, rum, orange zest, cinnamon, and salt, and whisk everything together until smooth.
- Press a layer of cling wrap on top of the ganache and refrigerate for about an hour, until it has thickened slightly and is the texture of peanut butter. Fit a piping bag with a large round tip or coupler, and scrape the ganache into the piping bag. Pipe the ganache into each chilled golf ball cavity, until it comes almost to the top of the mold. Leave a small margin at the top. Refrigerate the molds again for about 45 minutes to make the filling firmer. Turn the mold upside down and flex it gently to remove the golf balls halves.
- Re-melt some white coating and place it in a paper cone or plastic bag with a hole snipped in the corner. Pipe a circle of coating around the edge of one of the golf ball halves, and press a second half on top. Run your finger around the edge to remove any excess coating. Repeat until you’ve stuck all of the golf ball halves together.
To Make the Brownies:
- Line an 18”x13” half-sheet baking pan with foil, and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Combine the butter, semi-sweet chocolate, and unsweetened chocolate in a large microwave-safe bowl. Melt them together in 30-second increments, stirring after every 30 seconds to prevent overheating. Once melted and smooth, let it cool to room temperature.
- Whisk in the eggs one at a time, then whisk in the instant espresso, vanilla, and granulated sugar. Continue to whisk until the texture smooths and thickens and the batter becomes glossy, like pudding. Finally, add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir in gently with a spatula until no streaks of flour remain.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it into an even layer. Bake the brownies for 15 minutes, then remove the pan from the oven and gently rap it on the counter to release any air bubbles. Return it to the oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes (25 minutes of baking total), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.
- Let the brownies cool completely to room temperature before assembling.
To Make the Buttercream:
- Place all of the ingredients except the food coloring in the bowl of a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sugar is moistened. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat again on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. You can add more milk or sugar, if desired, to get the consistency you want. Add a few drops of green food coloring and mix it in, the add more if necessary until you get a grass green color.
To Assemble:
- Take a circle cutter (3 – 3.5” size recommended) and cut out 12 rounds from the brownie pan. Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a grass tip. Pipe green grass over the top of each brownie round. Top them with a golf ball truffle, and serve! For the best taste and texture, enjoy this dessert at room temperature.
Recipe Notes
Measuring Tips
Our recipes are developed using weight measurements, and we highly recommend using a kitchen scale for baking whenever possible. However, if you prefer to use cups, volume measurements are provided as well. PLEASE NOTE: the adage “8 oz = 1 cup” is NOT true when speaking about weight, so don’t be concerned if the measurements don’t fit this formula.
Want to learn more about baking measurements and conversion?
These are great! I was giggling at your power tools, moustaches, etc. jibe, but it’s so true isn’t it? That’s all you seem to see on desserts for Father’s Day! 😆 I love how you’ve done the golf balls into truffles, they alone look delicious, but I love the pairing of the chocolate brownie bottom with the white chocolate truffles.
I’m dying to make these now, but my Dad isn’t a golfer. Might have to switch them up to soccor balls instead, he’s a big football fan. And will have to switch the chocolate brownies to white chocolate brownies as he’s also allergic to dark/milk chocolate. Thanks for the inspiration, Elizabeth. I was wondering what to do, and now I know. 🙂
Oops, forgot to mention I recently subscribed. So nice to meet another blogger who’s in the same niche as I am. Will be back soon. xo
Haha, it’s so true! Poor men. They just want to listen to sing Hamilton in the shower and eat kale salads like the rest of us, but it’s all “hammers” this and “bow ties” that. Oh well!
You could TOTALLY find soccer ball candy molds and make these. That would be super cute! Let me know if you give them a try!
xo
E
So much fun, these look superb… I have a friend who is a green keeper with a birthday coming up soon so have sent this to his wife 😀
OMG, these would be perfect for him! Talk about Or even just the golf ball truffles on top of a green-frosted birthday cake. Too fun! Thanks Brian. 🙂
Seriously? You really ARE the dessert queen. These are AMAZING! My dad would love them! Seriously those golf ball truffles are out-of-this-world. Too clever xx
Thank you Jess! You are the sweetest. And I hope your dad gets to enjoy a golf-themed dessert one day! 🙂
These are just fantastic! Funnily enough, I’m hosting a kids’ golf event this summer – can we hire you to match a batch 😉 (If only we were in the same country and I could ask seriously!)
Haha, that’s too perfect! I fear that golf ball-shaped truffles might be lost on kids though–they just gobble stuff down and don’t look twice. 🙂
You’re so creative! These are so pretty, and the golf ball truffle looks so creamy!
Thank you Diana! The filling was the perfect texture–not too soft and not too stiff!
These are adorable! We don’t have golf lovers in my family either, but hey, for the sake of making something cute, I’d make these!
Thanks Shelby! My family doesn’t love golf, but we do love candy, so it all works out! 🙂
These are just amazing! Inspired and I really love them. A wonderful treat for any golf player.
Thanks so much, Helen!
These are too cute! I know a few golf players who would love these!
Thanks Miranda!! I hope you get the chance to try them sometime!
These are AMAZING! My boyfriend would love them! Seriously those golf ball truffles are out-of-this-world,you are so wonderful for making this dessert
thank you so much!!!
Thanks so much, Sarah! Make them for your boyfriend for a special occasion!
Love this so much! My boyfriend and his best friend have spent every weekend this summer golfing together. I’m planning on making these this weekend. How far in advance can I make the truffles though? If i prepared them Thursday to be eaten on Saturday, would that work? How should I store them – airtight container in fridge?
Hey Emily! You can definitely make the truffles in advance. They actually last for several weeks, if kept refrigerated, so Thurs – Sat is not a problem at all. I’d keep them in an airtight container in the fridge, and let them come to room temp before serving (since cold, hard truffles are not so delicious.) PLEASE send pics or share on the facebook page when you make them–I love to see how my recipes turn out!