Serious Efforts: Minimum-Ingredient Chocolate Truffles

Posted by dbcurrie, January 8, 2009 at 1:46 PM

Okay, I'll dip my toes into the serious efforts waters. I hope this is serious enough to qualify; if not, somebody let me (and us) know if/why it isn't, since this is a new thing.

I'm trying to write up instruction for the simplest truffles that can be made with the fewest ingredients. I want to roll them in cocoa powder, rather than coating them in melted chocolate.

A cream/chocolate mixture makes a good ganache, but if you leave it at that and then roll it in the cocoa, by the next day the cocoa is sort of absorbed by the moisture on the outside of the truffles, so you don't have the nice powdery blush on them.

I've made truffles before, but always coated them in chocolate, so this has never come up.

Googling recipes gives me a multitude of ingredient additions from corn syrup to additional cocoa to butter...to all sorts of combinations. I'm willing to experiment a bit, but I don't want to try every example and end up swimming in failed truffles.

I suspect butter may be the key...but does anyone know for sure? It doesn't appear in every recipe, but then again, other than chocolate and cream, the recipes have been all over the map.

I'd like to keep the ganache ingredients down to chocolate, cream, optional flavoring, and the last ingredient that will allow them to be rolled in the cocoa and stored.

Any candymakers out there who have the answer?

[Serious Efforts guidelines »]

Post a Comment Favorite this!  (0)

Tags: chocolate truffles, Serious Efforts