Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Chocolate Truffles

white and milk chocolate tufflesTruffles are actually easier to make than you think, you just have to make sure that you have are starting with good products. Each year at Christmas we make some truffles for the season. This year we decided to get a little more creative and make milk chocolate, white chocolate, baileys, chocolate orange, mint chocolate and some variations on each (white shell on milk centre etc...). My favorite was the milk chocolate with white chocolate shell, although for someone who is not known to love orange chocolate, these were very nice. The mint chocolate were our least favorites as they were a little too herby tasting, if that makes sense. Infusing the flavour in the cream works really well so have some fun and experimenting and let me know how it goes.

The Ingredients: Chocolate Truffles

Makes 10-15 (although this all depends on how big you make them), start to finish these take about 1.5 hours with an hour of cooling time.

Basic truffle filling (you can adjust the amounts in the same ratio to make more):
3 ounces of chocolate (white or milk)
1 tbsp of sweet butter
1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/8 tsp of finely ground sea salt

Shell:
3 ounces of chocolate
1 tsp of shortening

Variations:
Handful of mint leaves freshly chopped
1 tbsp of baileys (replaces 1 tbsp of heavy cream)
Peel (with any pulp) of an orange roughly chopped

chocolate truffle centre mixIf you are making orange or mint chocolate truffles start by bring the cream to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, pour the cream over the orange or mint in a small bowl. Let the mixture steep while preparing the chocolate (approximately 5-7 minutes).

In a small saucepan, melt the butter chocolate for the filling over very low heat, whiling stirring consistently. It takes a little longer but you can hold the pot just over the heat, but not directly on the heat, to prevent it from burning.

Once completely melted stir in the heavy cream and mix well until smooth. If you are making a variation, strain the cream in through a fine metal seive and remove the mint or orange.

There is a chance that the mixture will break, if this happens continue stirring with a small whisk or a fork until the mixture come together again.

Place in mixture in the fridge for to 10-30 minutes, stirring every five minutes. When it is ready, the chocolate will be firm and a fork will not easily stir it. This sounds a little complicated until you try it, it is quite easy to tell when the chocolate is ready to roll into a ball and when it is just a gucky mess in your hands.

naked truffles ballsWhen it is ready, remove it from the fridge and roll small balls, approximately the diameter of a quarter, with your hands. Place the balls on cookie sheet cover with parchment paper and place back in the fridge.

Melt the remaining chocolate and shortening in a small saucepan.

Remove the truffle centres from the fridge and submerge them in the melting chocolate covering the entire ball. Use a small spoon to drizzle chocolate over the balls if needed (especially when you are getting to the end).

Place the truffles back on the cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and put it back in the fridge until the outside hardens, about 15 minutes.

You can add decorations on top with more drizzled chocolate or candied oranges if you want. Enjoy!

No comments:

Post a Comment