Homemade Chocolate Truffles
Who does not love Chocolate truffles ? Rich, creamy, elegant and small indulgent balls of chocolate are pure joy and so blissful. Chocolate truffles are essentially creamy chocolate ganache balls, but you can stuff other things like oreo cookies, nuts and dry fruits too.
Why these chocolate truffles are so good ? Because these are –
Homemade
Refined sugar free
Sweetened with honey
Creamy and buttery – for a smooth and melt-in-mouth texture
Flavoured with vanilla and orange liqueur
Ingredients For Making Chocolate Truffles
A basic version needs only two ingredients – chocolate and cream.
And a simple step to begin with. Chop the chocolate and pour in the warm cream. Leave it alone for a minute. Then whip it up till rich, silky and viscous.
Ganache will firm up when chilled. Small balls of ganache can be flavoured differently. Can be stuffed with nuts and dry fruits and fruit candies too. These ganache balls when rolled over and coated with chocolate sauce or nut powders or sprinklers looks very pretty. A real heart stealer.
How To Make Chocolate Ganache ?
Chocolate ganache needs only two basic ingredients – chocolate and cream. You can use full cream milk too. The type of ganache you will get purely depends upon the ratio of chocolate to cream. For pouring consistency that drips from the cake needs more cream to chocolate ratio.
Do check our Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake With Chocolate Ganache.
Here for fudge kind of chocolate ganache that can be rolled into balls, I have used an equal proportion of chocolate to cream. I have added butter too for smooth , melt-in-mouth texture. Honey is added for the sweetness as I have primarily worked with dark and bitter sweet chocolate for making these chocolate truffles.
Troubleshooting The Chocolate Ganache
Making ganache seems pretty simple and easy. But the right temperature and kind of chocolate you are using also plays major role. Which pretty much determines how your ganache is going to turn out.
We all had our shares of kitchen disasters. So what was once my fool-proof method (I thought I have perfected the ganache), of making ganache turns grainy or dead, one day. The cream and chocolate get separated.
So much effort (read dark chocolates, heavy cream and orange liqueur) goes into waste ! At that point I thought I should cry out loud !
Dark chocolate bars and truffles coating assembly line
Reviving My Grainy / Dead Ganache
There is a rule that you should not throw the chocolates unless you burnt it. Right ! That means there is still some hope to rectify my dead ganache !
If this had happened to you too, then all you need is to re-emulsify it. And with bit of patience.
How I revive my dead (grainy) ganache ?
I have divided the ganache roughly in to two parts. I have warmed one half over a double boiler (no need to buy one – place a large glass bowl over a small saucepan and keep it in mind that water should not touch the bowl )and heated it till it reaches a temperature of 130 F degree.
Now I don’t have candy thermometer . So I have to rely on my calculated guess. With the help of silicone spoons, I keep tasting it until it felt sufficiently warm. Then I added few semi-sweet chocolate (dark) and kept stirring it, until it looks like ganache !
Dead (Grainy) ganache on left and Re-incarnated ganache on right
The other half of the dead ganache should be at 60 F (that was the room temperature) so I don’t have to give a ice bath to the ganache. I stirred it and stream it into the hot re – emulsified ganache. Then I have combined the two really well until I got it back !
I call this my Re-incarnated Ganache !
Homemade Chocolate Honey Truffles
Ingredients
For Ganache
- 4 oz Dark chocolate (110 gm around)
- 4 oz Heavy cream (120 gm around)
- 1 tbsp Butter (unsalted)
- 2 tbsp Honey
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 2 tsp Orange liqueur
Truffle coatings
- Cocoa powder spiked with paprika
- Crushed pistachios
- Chocolate vermicelli
- Colorful sprinkles
Instructions
- Roughly chop the chocolates, or else if you have grater then grate the chocolates.
- In a heavy bottom small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a gentle simmer.
- Pour the cream onto the chopped chocolate and let it cover for 30 secondsWarm the honey and add it to the chocolates.
- Start mixing the chocolate and cream b yusing a silicone spatula.
- Just making a cutting action or 8 mix the chocolates and cream, a vigorous stirring may infuse more air bubbles into the ganache, which is not desirable.
- Softened the butter and add it to the chocolates, blend it well.
- Let the ganache cool slightly before adding the alcohol or other flavourings.
- Let the flavouring set for few minutes, give it a final stir and cool to room temperature before wrapping it with a cling film and let it chill for hours, may be overnight. Minimum 2 hours is require to get the firm ganache.For quick-setting, freeze it for an hour.
- Remove and with the help of spoon, or melon baller or ice cream scooper, scoop out small portions of ganache (it should be firm enough to form a ball).
- Grease your palm with unsalted butter and make small chocolate balls and immediately roll them in the coating.
- Chill them until needed.
Notes
5 Comments
Suman Arthy
February 15, 2013 at 2:00 amLip-smacking truffles….
Deepa
February 15, 2013 at 5:30 amDelicious and colorful truffles. Wonderful preparation. Loved the look of it.
Deepa
Priya
February 15, 2013 at 6:30 amVery delightful and irresistible truffles.
Kitchen Queen
February 15, 2013 at 9:59 amchocolate , chocolate and more chocolate. who says no ? not me.