As promised, here is the first post in a truffle making series. This first one is just a basic how-to. You’ll see how easy it is, and you still have time to make some yourself if you choose.
The basic recipe for the truffle filling is:
125ml single (pouring) cream
400-500g chocolate
I’ve tried lots of different recipes out there with lots of different choc:cream ratios. This works well. Don’t be tempted to use double cream or thickened (spoonable) cream if that’s all you have available. Yes, that is the voice of experience talking.
If you’re using dark choc you can increase the cream to 250ml. But don’t try it with the white and milk choc or you’ll have trouble getting it to set. The other tip for helping your mixture to set is that if you’re adding alcohol, add 25g butter to 125ml cream.
Ok, so to begin. Put the cream (and butter) in a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a low heat. You don’t want it to look like boiling water here, you want to seeing small rolling bubbles. Oh, and make sure you don’t stop stirring during this phase.
Remove from heat and pour into a bowl with the chocolate. Stir until choc melted into cream mixture, and it’s nice and smooth. You may need some quick bursts in the microwave (high for 20s) to help get all the choc melted (especially the white choc). If so just zap, then mix. You want to use the microwave as little as possible as you don’t want to risk burning the choc. Also, mix with a metal spoon. Wooden spoons retain moisture and will transfer it to your choc. Choc and moisture don’t mix, not when making chocs.
Once the choc is fully melted and mixed in with the cream, you can add your extras.
This is where you really get to have fun. The sky is the limit where flavours are concerned. If you’re adding chopped fruit or nuts, a cup is about right (metric cup that is). Maybe you want to chop up turkish delight to add. Or jelly beans. If you’re in Australia/NZ, how about chopping up two cherry ripes or two peppermint crisps and adding them to the mixture. How about some chopped vanilla fudge. Or a handful or two of popping candy. Anyway, you get the idea.
Once everything is mixed together, cover and put in the fridge for about 8 hours. The dark choc might only need 5 hours. Depends what you’ve added. And sometimes you might need to pop them in the freezer to help them set.
Then it’s time to roll. Get a teaspoon and dig out spoonfuls then roll between your hands. This will get messy. There isn’t really anyway to avoid it. When they are all rolled, pop them back in the fridge to harden again.
Now it’s time to coat them. Make a double boiler by putting a glass or metal bowl on a small saucepan. You want to put some water in the saucepan but not high enough that it touches the bottom of the bowl. And you want the sides of the bowl to come up a good distance from the top of the pan.
Turn on the stove, once your water come close to the boil, turn the heat down very low. Remember, moisture is not your friend. You want to try and avoid letting any of the steam from the pan get into your bowl of choc. Use a metal spoon to mix your chocolate – it’ll take a while to melt. Don’t put large amounts of choc on at a time as the moisture will come out of your rolled truffles and into your chic coating, so after a time it’ll get thick and gloopy, and you’ll want to change it out for fresh choc.
Chuck your truffles in the choc one at a time, coat, fish out, knock/shake off the excess choc and sit aside on some baking paper to set.
I use a bifty little choc coating tool for this. I highly recommend you track one down. Most choc making supply shops should have them.
There you have it. I have just one piece of advice left: use good quality choc. Now go forth and spread the truffle love 