dark chocolate truffles: plain, orange, and raspberry

Truffles are one of those things that are a mix between hard and easy. On one hand, they're terribly messy and involve lots of fridge time, and you'll probably have to deal with some siezed chocolate and that's rarely fun. However, at it's core, a truffle recipe is this: melt chocolate and cream together. Chill. Roll into balls. Chill. Roll in cocoa powder/melted chocolate/nuts/etc. Chill.

Then you eat them, of course.



These were Mum's birthday present. Her birthday cake was a selection of excellent cupcakes (mud pie, PB, red velvet, carrot, and lemon pistachio) from a Berkeley bakery.

Truffles

12 oz chocolate
6 oz heavy cream

(The chocolate:cream ratio is 2:1, if you want to change the size of the recipe. I just poured a bunch of chocolate chips into a bowl on a scale and then poured on half that of cream).

raspberries
3 oz extra chocolate

orange Vitamin C tablets, crushed (~6, but taste to find out what you like)
1/4 tsp vanilla
a few drops lemon extract
1 Tb extra chocolate

Heat the cream up in the microwave or on the stove. Do not allow it to boil. Remove from the heat and pour in your chocolate chips. Let them sit for a moment (to get soft; you can stir immediately if you want, it just won't do you much good) and then stir until the mixture is smooth.

This is your basic truffle ganache. From here, you can just slip it into the fridge for at least an hour and get on with the rest of the recipe. However, if you want flavored truffles, here is where you get them.

I separated my truffles into three bowls. One I left plain. One had crushed red raspberries mixed into it (and extra chocolate, because the raspberries diluted the ganache). The last was made into an orange truffle, with Vit C tablets, lemon extract, vanilla, and chocolate.



Everything now goes in the fridge for at least an hour. Doing this the day beforehand works as well.

Later: Remove one bowl from the fridge at a time. Using a spoon, scoop out a small portion of the chilled ganache and roll it quickly between your hands into a ball. It will begin to melt all over your hands, so do it quickly. Place the ball on a plate (hint: cover the plate with wax paper, to keep things from sticking). Roll all of the ganache into balls then move the plate to the fridge. Repeat with the other mixtures.



Let them cool for another hour.

After they've chilled, you can roll them in whatever you like: melted chocolate, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, ground nuts... Chill them again and then devour happily.



A note about melting chocolate: if you get a drop of water in your chocolate when you are melting it, then it will sieze. It will get stiff and sort of almost fluffy, which is sort of cool, except when you want it to get smooth and sort of liquidy so you can roll truffles in it. If it siezes, just wrap it in plastic and stick it in the fridge. You can use it in something later. Get a new bowl, a new spoon, and new chocolate. Repeat the melting process.

The two best ways of melting chocolate that I know are in the double boiler on the stove top or very slowly in a microwave.

Double boiler: Fill a small pot an inch deep with water. Bring it to a simmer. Put a metal bowl on top of the pot. Make sure the bottom of the bowl does NOT touch the water. Pour chocolate into the bowl and stir until melted.

Microwave: With a clean, dry spoon and a clean, dry bowl, place a bowl of chocolate in the microwave. Microwave in ten second increments, stirring between each. Resist the urge to taste the chocolate on the spoon, because you might get water on it. Remove from the microwave a little before it's completely melted; the heat of the chocolate will finish off any remaining little chunks of solid chocolate.