I have the urge to make truffles for my chocolate-y contribution to Thanksgiving. Problem is, I have never made them. Anyone have a tried-and-true recipe they are willing to share?
Thanks!!
Brynda - Here’s Alton’ Brown’s recipe. I haven’t tried it, but he made it look pretty easy. And delicious. Will you be spreading the chocolate-y goodness around to your fellow Middle-TN Dopers?
StG
Chocolate Truffles
1 - 12 oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
2/3 stick butter (unsalted)
1/4 cup heavy cream
6 Tbsp your favorite liqueur
Melt butter and chocolate in microwave or in double boiler. Remove from heat; stir together until smooth. Add cream. Add liqueur. (If desired, divide chocolate into thirds, and use 3 favorite liqueurs @ 2 Tbsp each to flavor the portions differently.)
Chill until chocolate is firm (approx. 2 hours). Shape into small balls. Roll into your choice of: powdered sugar, ground nuts, coconut, or cocoa and powdered sugar. Serve in small candy papers.
Store for up to 2 weeks in a covered container in the refrigerator; remove 30 minutes before serving. Or, freeze for up to 4 months in a tightly sealed container; defrost in the container.
Notes:
I used Ghiradelli double chocolate (bittersweet) chocolate chips (11.5 oz bag.)
It’s impossible to roll the chocolate into nicely shaped balls, so it helps to use something rather coarse to roll them in to camouflage the imperfections. For truffles made with peppermint schnapps, I used crushed peppermint sticks; for truffles made with amaretto, I used Skor toffee bits (which I ran through the blender first.)
If you’re going to go to the trouble of making truffles, please keep in mind that chocolate chips aren’t a great way to start. They’re often filled with something to help them hold shape when they’re baked which isn’t really a good thing for chocolate you’re going to be eating just as chocolate. Ghiradelli’s chips are better quality chocolate than most chocolate chips, but still not something I’d waste a lot of truffle rolling time on. Ghiradelli makes some bar chocolates that are much better, but I can’t get them locally in sizes large enough to make truffles out of. Personally, I find Callebaut to be the best of the generally available chocolates for its price point. There are other better chocolates, but they’re not enough better once you flavour them up to justify the price increase over Callebaut.
My blog post about chocolate truffles from a couple of years ago. I sort of base my method around Kim O’Donnell’s technique. Though, I took a technique class from Jenn Stone this summer and I might try doing them her way this year.
Having recently ventured into homemade chocolate making (easy stuff so far like almond bark and turtles), I’m thinking of trying truffles for Christmas.
Many of the recipes I’ve googled call for using a thermometer to make sure the chocolate doesn’t heat up too much. For example, Alton Brown’s recipe referenced upthread:
Is it really necessary to buy a thermometer to make truffles, so long as you’re careful to only heat up the chocolate just enough to melt it?
For example, a truffle recipe on Cooking for Engineers doesn’t mention measuring the temperature. And given the nature of the website (very detailed instructions for the geeky types among us), I would think they’d mention that if it was crucial.
Sorry, I meant to clarify that I understand temperature is important for the chocolate coating, not for the truffle itself.
But I’d like to do a chocolate coating for my truffles, and maybe try making other chocolate stuff this winter.
Should I invest in a good thermometer?
Yes. And unless your chocolate is pre-tempered, you’re going to need to heat it well past 90 degrees, and then bring it slowly back under 90 with lots of stirring to get it back into temper for coating.
Thanks, everyone, although I might have to wuss out and make fudge instead. Maybe for Christmas, though…
This may be sugarsacriligious, but making them with condensed milk is super easy and quick, giving you more time to experiment with different flavourings, coatings, etc. (I like dipping them in white chocolate and rolling in nuts, adding peppermint extract and rolling in crushed candycanes, and adding ginger and rolling in ginger/icing sugar).
(recipe here)