Tons of Truffles

For Christmas this year, I made boxes of truffles for everyone. 

I took a truffles class with a friend a few months ago. They talked about different types of chocolate and gave us the basics of truffle making, then walked us through the process of making ganache. Since the ganache needs to sit overnight, they provided us with 3 different kinds of ganache that we rolled into balls and decorated. 

The class made it seem so easy to make the truffles that I thought it would be great to do for gifts. Even though it's pretty easy to make the ganache, the hard (and time-consuming) part is chopping the chocolate. Luckily I had some help in the kitchen. In the end, I made 7 different kinds of truffles. Any of the truffle recipes that will follow over the next few days can either be left uncoated or dipped in tempered chocolate (either milk or dark). They can also be cooled on a flat cookie sheet and cut into shapes before coating, or just rolled into balls. The recipes will include instructions for the ways I coated and decorated them, but use whichever methods you prefer. Also, be sure to use baking chocolate to make the truffles. I used the Trader Joe's pound plus bars for all my truffles.

Candy Cane Truffles

6oz semi-sweet chocolate

1/3c heavy cream

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

4 peppermint candy canes

1lb chocolate (for coating)

Finely chop the semi-sweet chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl.

Unwrap the candy canes and crush.

Heat the cream in a small saucepan until almost boiling and bubbling at the edges.

Pour cream over the chopped chocolate and cover bowl immediately.

Allow to sit approximately 5 minutes, then stir using spatula until smooth.

Add peppermint extract and most of crushed candy canes and stir.

Allow to sit, uncovered, overnight or until firm enough to work with.

Roll truffles into balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Truffles can be served without further coating, or can be dipped in tempered chocolate.

To temper chocolate:

Cut chocolate into small pieces and place in bowl over a double boiler to melt. Bring to a temperature of about 110 degrees. Seed the chocolate as soon as this temperature is reached (add a large chunk of chocolate to your melted chocolate). Bring the temperature down to 85 degrees, then remove the seed. Bring the temperature back up to about 90 degrees. To maintain temperature, place on a heating pad set to low heat. A Google search will provide you with many videos and further instructions for tempering chocolate.

Once chocolate is tempered, use dipping tools to coat your truffle balls. Tap on edge of bowl to remove excess chocolate, then set on parchment-lined cookie sheet to set. Sprinkle pieces of candy canes on top.