Holiday (but anytime!) Chocolate Truffles

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You can make them anytime, but holidays, in particular, call for truffles. Why buy them when you can easily make them yourself, customized and flavored to your heart’s content?

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Working with chocolate can be intimidating. Tempering, blooming, ugh.  Forgetaboutit! With truffles you experience none of those chocolate heartbreaks. Mine are smooth, creamy, and boozy (if you want) on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Small enough to have a few, but not so rich you feel like you need to add more resolutions on top of your New Year’s resolutions.

This can be a fun friends and family project, too. A “roll your own,” so to speak!

Some versions of truffles also include a hard chocolate layer on the outside, making them a perfect sphere.  To me this is gilding the lily and takes away from the more organic shape of an actual mushroom truffle from whence they get their name.

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Holiday (but anytime!) Chocolate Truffles

  • Servings: 40 - 50
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients

  • 16 ounces of 60 – 72% chocolate
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons of amaretto, hazelnut, raspberry or orange liquor, rum, Irish Cream, Kahlua, or liquor of your choice (optional)
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • For coating use any of the following:finely chopped nuts of any type, sifted cocoa powder, sifted powdered sugar, coconut flakes, chocolate or other sprinkles

Directions

  1. Finely chop the chocolate using a serrated knife. Alternatively cut it into small chunks and pulse it in a food processor until it’s in very small pieces. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl
  2. In a small saucepan, heat the cream on medium heat until hot and small bubbles form at the edge of the pan. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and set the bowl aside for 3 minutes
  3. Add the butter and liquor to the bowl with the chocolate and cream and stir until the butter is fully melted, the chocolate has no streaks, and is glossy
  4. Pour the chocolate mixture into an 8 x 8-inch dish. Refrigerate until firm, about 90 minutes. NOTE: The amount of time needed to firm up the truffle mixture will depend on the temperature of your refrigerator. It’s even OK to refrigerate overnight.
  5. Use a small ice cream scoop or a teaspoon to make each truffle approximately the same size. This recipe yields 40-50 (It depends on how much you’ve already eaten and how large you make them!). Quickly roll the balls between your hands until you’ve evened out the ball (the heat of your hands will soften the chocolate balls. Feel free to use latex or vinyl gloves). Refrigerate the truffles until you’re ready to coat them. If using multiple types of coatings, I suggest that you only do one type at a time
  6. Set up small bowls of each of your coatings. Roll the truffles in the coatings
  7. Store in an air tight container for up to a week in the refrigerator
  8. Serve to guests, give as host gifts, or hoard them for yourself. No.. it’s the season for giving. Please share

Author: gregnelsoncooks

Visit weekly for original and adapted recipes as well as cooking tips to make your kitchen life easier — and more delicious! I’ll include simple, straight forward instructions along with recipes that are truly worth your time making. And, recipes that elevate the familiar and introduce you to the new and unexpected.

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