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This recipe requires some time. It is done in various stages and is well worth the effort. Tonsina “Toni” Colasacco usually makes this recipe as special thank you treats for friends and her children’s teachers.

“It is a very easy recipe to multiply,” she said. “You can make one huge cheesecake, freeze the balls and take them out a dozen at a time or how many you need, and dip them.”

Cheesecake Truffles

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1/4 cup milk

1 bag chocolate chips (any kind) 11.5 oz.

Mix first four ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Add eggs and yolk and mix until completely incorporated. Add milk and again mix until smooth.

Pour into a greased 9-by-9-inch baking pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes until cheesecake is just set. Any browning is covered up by the chocolate. Cool on counter for 30 minutes, then completely in the refrigerator.

Use a small biscuit cutter, melon baller or cookie cutter to cut out individual pieces pieces of cheesecake. Place on waxed paper and freeze for 1 1/2 hours.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler slowly. Using a fork, slowly dip each cake piece, one at a time, into the chocolate and slowly turn until coated. Place back on waxed paper. Let set in the fridge for about a half hour. Store between layers of waxed paper.

• Keeping the chocolate over hot water makes it easier to coat the cream cheese pieces.

Finishing Touch: Use different types of chocolate for decorating each truffle.

Place a small amount of chocolate of choice in a Ziploc bag in a microwave oven, melt, then snip a corner off, squeeze and decorate the truffles.

— Tonzina Colasacco, Fairbanks