POULSBO — Combine a love of chocolate and some candy-making know-how with the desire to take a chance and one might end up with truffles.

Truffles made by Karen Hartman of Karen’s Confections to be exact.

“I love chocolate,” Hartman freely admitted, adding that dark chocolate is her favorite.

As for truffles, they came about as part of a cooking class Hartman took at Olympic College in Bremerton.

“I did some for my family for the holidays,” she said. “My sister mentioned that it would be neat trying to sell them.”

With that warm reception to her truffles, Hartman said she spent three years selling her chocolate creations at holiday and bridal shows on the weekends before deciding to make it her full-time ambition.

“My favorite is the dark chocolate orange, and a lot of people like the white chocolate mint wrapped in dark chocolate,” she said. “It tastes like an Andes, only better.”

Coconut, peanut butter, hazelnut, raspberry, rum, Kahlua and simple unspoiled dark chocolate round out the 10 basic truffle varieties Hartman offers on a regular basis.

“They make a great gift for an anniversary or for the holidays,” she said, adding that she keeps a fair amount of inventory on hand for seasonal rushes.

The truffles come in a variety of sizes, and so far the larger boxes have been popular, she said.

“I do bulk orders as long as I have the time to get them done,” she said.

Batches take almost two hours to complete, as each truffle goes through a three-step process from start to finish, she said.

Currently, her Web site is her primary sales outlet, but eventually Hartman said she might consider opening a small store.

“I just shipped my first order off my Web site to Oregon for a wedding,” she said, adding that she ships her candies via UPS or the U.S. Postal Service depending on her customer’s preference.

In addition to her Web site, Hartman said her chocolates can be found on brides.com and she recently sent samples to the Web site’s organizers in New York City.

“They got their just fine. I do cold shipping, so I can get them anywhere in the U.S.,” she said.

Even though shipping isn’t a problem during the fall and winter months, Hartman said with the specialized gel packs, she can ship her chocolates anywhere at any time and not have to worry about them melting en route to their final destination.

Locally, Hartman’s truffles can be found at Pine Cone Gifts in Kingston, but eventually Hartman said she hopes to expand into the Seattle hotel market.

“It’s something they could pick up at the gift store or maybe be placed on their pillow,” she said.