This weekend I went up to Johnson and Wales and took a two day class on chocolate, chocolate artistry, and truffles. I wanted to make some more simple ganache-centered truffles for Valentine’s Day. I have recipes for these, which we made in class:
Plain dark
Plain white
Plain milk
Dark with almonds
White with orange
Dark with raspberry
Milk with pistachio
Milk with cinnamon (which we didn’t do in class, but the technique for all these is identical.)
I imagine I’ll do a few of those, but the class really gave me the tools to branch out and make anything I want to make. What do I want to make? (A set of truffles with different ganaches and the same coating would be most awesome, as it would cut down on the tempering pain in the ass.) Bring the ideas.
There’s a trend among leading chocolatiers to make truffles flavored with unexpected spices and essences. I recall flavors like cardamom, curry and cayenne, the cardamom one being the most delectable among them.
Myself, I like the flavor of a stiff shot of some kind of liquor, like rum or bourbon. Bourbon goes particularly well with dark chocolate.
There’s practically no end to what you can do with chocolate nowadays. Actually, it’s gotten really trendy to find the weirdest possible combinations of flavours… some of which work, and some of which are pretty darn gross. Bacon chocolate, anyone?
If you’d like to stick with slightly more traditional but left of centre, there are several interesting combos I’ve tried out. Here’s a quick sampling:
dark chocolate with pulverized Earl Grey tea (just put it in a coffee grinder and let 'er rip until you’ve got a fine powder)
dark chocolate with rum and dessicated coconut flakes
milk chocolate with pink peppercorns
milk chocolate with cinnamon and cayenne (aka Mexican Hot Chocolate)
milk chocolate with black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, anise and cloves (aka chai spice)
Ooooh, the Mexican Hot Chocolate idea smells like awesome. Also rum and coconut - pina colada truffle. (Maybe in a few batches I’ll try the really exciting stuff with, like, fennel and hog jaws, but I want to send some of these to my grandma.)
The Chai and Mexican chocolates look wonderful, but I second the amaretto!! I have a really easy, really yummy recipe.
For approx 2 lbs truffles:
2 lbs chocolate (Ghiradelli 60% choc chips are best and cheap. About 2 1/3 bags will do)
1 pint heavy cream
1 stick melted butter
1/3 to 1/2 cup amaretto
1 cup cocoa powder, chopped almonds, or whatever (to decorate)
Mix chocolate chips and cream in a double-boiler (on very loooow heat, stirring constantly) until the chocolate melts and mixes smoothly with the cream. Add the butter and liquor, stir until all smooth. Refrigerate until firm and scoop out little balls with a spoon, then roll in cocoa powder or chopped nuts (or both mixed together!!) and keep refrigerated till you’re ready to serve. Yummmmmmy!
You can use any liquor, really. This also makes a great icing for cakes-- just pour it on an refrigerate to firm!
Tonight I made two ganaches - milk chocolate cinnamon and dark chocolate cinnamon-with-cayenne. I meant to make a shit-ton more, but alas! the first one broke and I spent ages trying to fix it. (Which I did, eventually. It was so damned exciting I can’t actually describe it.) Tomorrow I think I’ll make some white chocolate orange and white chocolate amaretto, and dip the ones I made today.
I once ate an awesome crushed cornflake and white pepper truffle. Some people look at me weird when I tell them that, but you guys understand me, right?
Is there really anything more of a thrill in cooking than demonstrating that you actually learned and understand something by fixing a batch that went wrong and you were going to throw out? And the fix is in such a way that it’s immediately perfectly obvious that it’s right now - the texture completely and utterly changes to what you’d know was right even if you didn’t spend two days of your life learning about it?
Yeah, I be cool like that.
I stopped halving the recipes after that, though, because I think that was the problem - smaller quantities were too heat sensitive. So you guys might have to get some, as I’ll have, like, four kinds that make about 200 each. Valentine’s Day chocolate orgy for everybody I know.
