Last of the Truffles

Finally! The last of the 7 kinds of truffles.... and I saved my favorite for last:

Peanut Butter Cup Truffles

3/4c heavy cream

1lb + 2oz milk chocolate, finely chopped

6T smooth peanut butter, natural

Simmer cream. Pour over chocolate. Allow to sit 5 minutes, covered, then stir with spatula until smooth.

Add peanut butter and stir until blended.

Pour into piping bags.

Follow instructions from this post to fill mold cavities, but use a peanut butter cup shaped mold.

Tops can be printed using chocolate transfer sheets - I used left over candy cane transfer sheets, as well as a flower print. Or top with crushed peanuts.

Dark Chocolate Truffles

For these, I used the exact same recipe as for Milk Chocolate Cut Out Truffles, except I substituted dark chocolate for the milk chocolate. Also, instead of coating these in tempered chocolate, I rolled them in cocoa powder.

Coconut Truffles

Sick of truffles yet?

To be honest, I never tried this truffle. This was the last one I made and after tasting all the others, I couldn't take any more. They looked pretty though! Hope they were good...

Coconut Truffles

1lb dark chocolate, finely chopped

1/3c heavy cream

5T coconut milk

1/2T vanilla extract

1lb milk chocolate, for tempering

3/4c toasted coconut

Place cream and coconut milk in saucepan. Add vanilla and simmer.

Sprinkle over chopped chocolate.

Let sit, covered, 5 mins, then stir with spatula until smooth.

Allow to sit overnight until hardened.

Roll into balls and place on parchment-lined sheet in refrigerator while tempering remaining chocolate.

Dip in tempered chocolate, tap off excess, then let cool on parchment-lined sheet.

Sprinkle toasted coconut on top.

Molded Truffles

To make truffles in molds, you can use a softer ganache. If you ever have a ganache that doesn't quite harden enough to make a rolled ball truffle, a molded truffle is the perfect option. Or if you plan for a molded truffle, add a little more cream to the ganache.

I made molded truffles filled with a Vanilla Rooibos tea (from Starbucks) ganache. To infuse truffles with a tea flavor, just steep the tea bags in the cream as it boils. I used 5 tea bags for this recipe. For my ganache, I used the same recipe as for Milk Chocolate Cut Out Truffles, but used 9oz of cream. Once the ganache was made, I poured it into piping bags since it will be very liquid.

To fill the mold, pour tempered chocolate into each cavity. Immediately turn upside down and let all excess chocolate drip out of the mold, but ensure all sides are covered. Let sit for several minutes until chocolate starts to firm. Scrape excess chocolate off mold so that only the cavities are filled, and there is no excess on the sides of the mold. Allow to sit until fully hardened. Fill 2/3 full with ganache. Pour tempered chocolate over each cavity to fill on top of ganache. Immediately scrape excess off mold. Allow to sit until completely firm. If chocolate was tempered properly, candies will easily pop out of mold. If you have difficulty, freeze for several minutes, then try again.

Champagne Truffles

These don't have a very strong champagne flavor, but it does make the texture a little bit more bubbly.

Champagne Truffles

1/2c heavy cream

1lb + 2oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

3T champagne

Simmer cream over medium heat.

Pour over 8oz chocolate.

Cover and let sit 5 minutes.

Stir gently with spatula until smooth.

Stir in champagne.

Cool overnight, uncovered, or until firm enough to roll.

Roll into balls and place on parchment-lined sheet.

Refrigerate while tempering remaining chocolate (see my previous post).

Dip balls into tempered chocolate, and place on a parchment-lined sheet to cool.

Sprinkle with fine sugar.

Milk Chocolate Cut Out Truffles

Another one of the Christmas themed truffles I made was a milk chocolate truffle, cut into the shape of candy canes, with a candy cane print on top. I bought a lot of my supplies, including packaging, from Country Kitchen Sweet Art. They have a ton of fun baking and candy-making supplies, and a great customer service department. For tempering instructions, see my previous post.

Milk Chocolate (Candy Cane) Truffles

12oz milk chocolate

4.5oz heavy cream

Candy cane pattern chocolate transfer sheet, cut into appropriate sized pieces

Chop chocolate into fine pieces and place in heat safe bowl.

Bring the cream to a light boil, then pour over chocolate.

Cover bowl and let sit for 5 mins.

Using a spatula, stir until smooth.

Pour ganache onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet or pan, and spread to 1/4" thick.

Let sit overnight to set.

Temper chocolate.

Pour a thin layer over the hardened ganache and let sit 5 mins to harden.

Cut ganache into shapes using a small, cold cookie cutter.

Place the cut out chocolate side down on a dipping tool and dip in the tempered chocolate.

Put on a parchment-lined cookie sheet to cool.

While chocolate is still wet, place a transfer sheet on the truffle.

Once truffle is set, about 30-45 mins, slowly peel off transfer sheet.

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.