I am trying to get some interesting truffle ideas for Valentines Day.
I'd love to try a peanut butter Milk or white chocolate truffle.

I know the easiest way would be to melt peanut butter chips with the
chocolate with hot cream to make a ganache. But, I somehow think real
peanut butter will taste a lot better (and have a much better mouth
feel) than the chips.

I am thinking I can chop the chocolate fine in a food processor, add
the PB and then blend as I pour in the hot cream. This should get
everything well mixed and emulsified.

What does everyone think? Has anyone tried this before?

I also hope the filling is soft and creamy but firm enough to either
dip or mold with a chocolate coating. I suppose that only takes
getting it nice and firm within the fridge before coating, etc.
Thanks,

SC

"SC" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>I am trying to get some interesting truffle ideas for Valentines Day.
> I'd love to try a peanut butter Milk or white chocolate truffle.
>
> I know the easiest way would be to melt peanut butter chips with the
> chocolate with hot cream to make a ganache. But, I somehow think real
> peanut butter will taste a lot better (and have a much better mouth
> feel) than the chips.
>
> I am thinking I can chop the chocolate fine in a food processor, add
> the PB and then blend as I pour in the hot cream. This should get
> everything well mixed and emulsified.
>
> What does everyone think? Has anyone tried this before?
>
> I also hope the filling is soft and creamy but firm enough to either
> dip or mold with a chocolate coating. I suppose that only takes
> getting it nice and firm within the fridge before coating, etc.
> Thanks,
>
> SC

I haven't done that, but I do use almond paste in some of my fillings.

The process you describe has two likely problems: a) overheating the nut
paste, causing the oils to separate, and b) if your centers require
refrigeration to be firm enough to dip, they will be too cold and knock your
chocolate out of temper, resulting in a streaky surface. You will get a
nicer finish if your centers are 60F or so when you dip them.

Here is a recipe for something called Tiger Butter. I made it years ago. As
I recall, it was too sweet for my taste, but had a nice texture. You could
skip some of the steps and use it at room temperature as a center, dipped in
bittersweet dark chocolate for contrast. Or you could use another type of
chocolate. But don't overheat it, in any case.

I lb finely chopped white chocolate
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 oz dark choc

Melt white choc and PB in top of double boiler, stirring frequently, just
until smooth. Remove from heat and cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Pour into 8 in
square pan lined with aluminum foil, and sprayed with cooking spray. (Note:
I'm willing to bet plain parchment paper would work just as well, and I
doubt that the cooling period is really necessary.) Spread evenly.

Without washing pan, melt dark chocolate in double boiler, stirring til
smooth. using a teaspoon, drizzle dark chocolate in parallel lines over
white chocolate. Using a knife, pull through to make "tiger" stripes. Chill
or freeze until firm. Turn out of pan, cut into pieces, etc.

Thanks Janet. I've made Tiger Butter myself (it was always a childhood
fav of mine). I love it! I would have never thought of converting it
to a truffle...very good.

I am going to be posting a new subject in a moment and I think you can
help me with it...

SC

If you prepare the truffle filling , mix with chocolate /cocoa
butter/cream and cool it down to tempering temperature, then temper it
on the marble slab ( like milk chocolate) before you use to fill it
into your chocolate shells;you will come out with a satisfactory
product that will maintain its desired texture even when stored for
a long time.
Roy

at Mon, 24 Jan 2005 17:27:48 GMT in <1106587668.929666.66950
@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>, (SC) wrote :

>I am trying to get some interesting truffle ideas for Valentines Day.
>I'd love to try a peanut butter Milk or white chocolate truffle.

White chocolate won't work with all flavours because many will overwhelm
its subtle flavour. However, there are some flavours that do work with
white chocolate. Almonds and almond butter are a match made in heaven.
Unroasted almonds are better than roasted ones in this case because their
milky flavour perfectly harmonises with the white chocolate. Lemon (the
zest, not the juice) works well, used sparingly . Rosewater is also a great
choice. You can also make dark chocolate rosewater truffles - perhaps the
most seductive, Valentine's day-appropriate, chocolates possible, and in
this application you should use Guittard Colombian/Chucuri.

>I know the easiest way would be to melt peanut butter chips with the
>chocolate with hot cream to make a ganache. But, I somehow think real
>peanut butter will taste a lot better (and have a much better mouth
>feel) than the chips.

Most peanut butter chips have vegetable shortenings in them, making their
mouthfeel and taste distinctly poor. The exception is Sunspire, whose chips
don't have vegetable shortening, but in any case chips use defatted peanut
butter, which leads to a poor texture. Besides, chips have added sugar, and
this isn't what you want, because peanut butter isn't a strong flavour,
and, diluted by the sugar, it will be washed out in a truffle. Furthermore
the resulting truffle will taste *extremely* sweet.

If you want to have an actual truffle filling that is mixed chocolate and
peanut butter, you need to be sure to balance the fat contents. Peanut
butter is about 50% fat. So use a high-cocoa-butter milk chocolate, a firm
ganache base (2:1 chocolate:cream), and the heaviest cream you can find. It
may also help to add a little butter. Stay away from milk chocolates with a
pronounced fruity tone, such as Guittard Soleil D'Or or Bonnat Asfarth.
Good nutty chocolates are best - such as Guittard Orinoco or Bonnat Java.

Mix up the ganache first, allow to cool until the consistency matches that
of the peanut butter, then stir the peanut butter in. Ideally the ganache
will be warm but not hot. It's best to use pure peanut butter rather than
the commercial brands (Jif, Peter Pan, Skippy) because these commercial
brands contain additives and sugars that affect the result.

>I am thinking I can chop the chocolate fine in a food processor,

A risky move. Trying to chop up chocolate in a food processor is an
invitation to melting it. Better to manually grate or chop.

> add
>the PB and then blend as I pour in the hot cream. This should get
>everything well mixed and emulsified.

A food processor does a poor job of blending because it wasn't designed for
this purpose. The blade spins round and doesn't really mix things in, and
the bowl shape is wrong. Food processors are designed for chopping, not
mixing. The proper tool for the job you're envisioning is a stand mixer
with the paddle attachment. It will achieve your blending result much more
quickly and satisfactorially.

Meanwhile, trying to add hot cream to peanut butter and chocolate already
placed in a bowl isn't the best tactic. What happens is: the cream sort of
bounces off the peanut butter and pools in various places. It doesn't
incorporate as well into the chocolate and you have a big risk of
everything separating.

Instead of making milk chocolate peanut butter ganache, another way is to
surround peanut butter with ganache, then dip the whole thing in chocolate.
With firm ganache this will work quite well. You make a ganache nest, fill
with peanut butter, spoon a little ganache over the peanut butter, and roll
briefly. Then dip after chilling.

Using peanut butter alone as a filling for a chocolate shell may sound
unglamourous, but it's delicious. The best of our local chocolate shops,
Essential Baking, makes a chocolate like this - the "Carter", and it's
superb.

>What does everyone think? Has anyone tried this before?
>I also hope the filling is soft and creamy but firm enough to either
>dip or mold with a chocolate coating.

Peanut butter generally causes a much softer consistency. It will not firm
up as much by chilling, either, because peanut butter remains soft when
chilled. So a blended peanut butter ganache filling will be softer even
after chilling than a pure ganache. However, as I already talked about in a
previous post, it looks as if in any case you may be seeking a softer
consistency anyway and if so the shell-moulding method will be the one you
should use anyway.

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

"Alex Rast" > wrote in message

>>I am thinking I can chop the chocolate fine in a food processor,
>
> A risky move. Trying to chop up chocolate in a food processor is an
> invitation to melting it. Better to manually grate or chop.

I always chop chocolate for truffles in my food processor, and have never
melted it. Of course, I don't set it going and walk away for a few minutes,
either--I stand there and watch it. And I'm usually starting with discos. If
you are starting from a bar, you have to do a fair amount of manual chopping
first anyway.

Yum, it all sounds so good. Which natural/pure peanut butter do you
prefer? The peanut butter center rolled in a firm ganache is a great
idea. I might have to try that one.
Thanks again for all of your help, Alex.

Stef

SC wrote:
> Yum, it all sounds so good. Which natural/pure peanut butter do you
> prefer? The peanut butter center rolled in a firm ganache is a great
> idea. I might have to try that one.
> Thanks again for all of your help, Alex.
>
> Stef

That one did sound good, but I'm wondering how you are going to prevent the
nut oil from separating out...maybe by eating them quickly? <G>

The best natural peanut butter I ever tasted was made from those little
Virginia peanuts that still had their thin red skins. It was at an organic
food store where you flipped a switch on the grinding machine and processed
however much you wanted right then and there. You might try looking at
natural/organic/health food stores in your area to see if they have such a
thing. (An additional benefit is that the oil won't have separated yet.)

at Wed, 26 Jan 2005 17:20:36 GMT in <1106760036.575810.219120
@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>, (SC) wrote :

>Yum, it all sounds so good. Which natural/pure peanut butter do you
>prefer?

My first choice is the grind-your-own organic peanut butter I can get at my
local co-op. If there's a natural foods store or co-op in your area, it's
quite possible they also have such a setup, and if so, this is the best one
to use.

Second choice is the Maranatha Organic Unsalted peanut butter.

Next down the list is Arrowhead Mills' organic peanut butter.

After that is Kettle Foods peanut butter.

And there are many, many others. It's likely, however, that at least
somewhere local will have the Maranatha organic so even if you don't have
grind-your-own you probably won't need to look much further than the #2
choice.

Be sure to get "creamy" varieties for any of the jarred types since that
produces the best texture.

> The peanut butter center rolled in a firm ganache is a great
>idea. I might have to try that one.

There are lots of truffles you can make along similar lines. Try condensed
raspberry or blueberry paste (simply cook down fresh or frozen berries till
they achieve a paste-like consistency), jam, coffee cream, cinnamon-
flavoured butter... the list goes on and on. All of these also work well
blended into the truffle base. With coffee or cinnamon, however, it's more
effective simply to grind up finely and add.

>Thanks again for all of your help, Alex.
>
>Stef
>

--
Alex Rast

(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)

On 05-01-27 00:55:18, Alex Rast wrote:

> blended into the truffle base. With coffee or cinnamon, however, it's more
> effective simply to grind up finely and add.

What worked well for me for coffee, just to share an unorthodox idea:

I wanted a strong flavour, but adding the strong coffee (I tried
espresso) wouldn't work as I wanted (the truffles wouldn't set), but
condensing it didn't work either (it kills the taste). Did I like the
idea of using bought dried coffee? No. And I didn't want to have
grinded coffee beans in the texture. (I do have a coffee grinder capable
of grinding to mokka dust, but it's still noticeable.)

So eventually being unhappy with everything I tried, I said, what the
hell, and cooked the double cream with the coarse grinded coffee and
filtered them out again after 5 minutes.

That worked pretty amazingly well. I didn't have to add any superfluous
liquid at all, nor did anything contaminate my texture.


--
http://lars.marowsky-bree.de/disclaimer.html
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/wis...1YT8P9SMIUTDI/

Thanks to all! I am almost positive that more than one local store
should have grind your own organic PB. I'll give it a try.

I will have to give the coffee infused cream a try too. I have used
the dried espresso and liked it o.k.

Funny, I love chocolate so much that I tend to like my chocolate
"unadulterated" for lack of a better way of putting it. Next to a
good, dark chocolate truffle, nothing else can compare.
Thanks again for everyone's help in everything!

SC

On 05-01-27 19:27:23, SC wrote:

> Funny, I love chocolate so much that I tend to like my chocolate
> "unadulterated" for lack of a better way of putting it. Next to a
> good, dark chocolate truffle, nothing else can compare.
> Thanks again for everyone's help in everything!

I can totally relate, and I don't think of all my creations as
"chocolate".

But I'll tell you, the dark-chocolate coated pyramids made of
caramelized pecan, chopped and soft dried figs stirred with vanilla and
wild mexican honey and a shot of real Balsamico vinegar would have been
worth killing for. ;-)


--
http://lars.marowsky-bree.de/disclaimer.html
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/wis...1YT8P9SMIUTDI/

SC wrote:
> I am trying to get some interesting truffle ideas for Valentines Day.
> I'd love to try a peanut butter Milk or white chocolate truffle.
>
> I know the easiest way would be to melt peanut butter chips with the
> chocolate with hot cream to make a ganache. But, I somehow think real
> peanut butter will taste a lot better (and have a much better mouth
> feel) than the chips.
>
> I am thinking I can chop the chocolate fine in a food processor, add
> the PB and then blend as I pour in the hot cream. This should get
> everything well mixed and emulsified.
>
> What does everyone think? Has anyone tried this before?
>
> I also hope the filling is soft and creamy but firm enough to either
> dip or mold with a chocolate coating. I suppose that only takes
> getting it nice and firm within the fridge before coating, etc.
> Thanks,
>
> SC
>
I use a white chocolate peanut butter truffle. 1 pound white chocolate
and 1 cup of skippy peanut butter and 2/3 -3/4 cup heavy cream. Oh and
don't whip it...peanut butter has a lot of oil in it and whipping causes
it to separate. By the way, I buy Callebaut chocolate from
chocolatesource.com. Although I wish I had a friend in the business so
I could buy from his wholesale source...lot's cheaper that way.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Truffles

1 C peanut butter chips
3/4 C butter
1/2 cup cocoa
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
Coatings: crushed graham cracker crumbs, confectioners sugar or crushed nuts

Makes about 3 dozen truffles

In a heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt chips with butter. Stir in cocoa
until smooth. Add condensed milk and vanilla. Cook and stir until thickened
and well blended, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. Chill until firm enough
to handle. Shape into 1 inch balls. Roll in desired coating. Chill until
firm. Store, covered in refrigerator.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------

Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles

1/4 cup unsalted sweet cream butter, softened
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure orange extract
1-1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup finely chopped lightly salted cocktail peanuts
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

Cream together the butter, peanut butter, vanilla and orange extracts in
bowl, mixing until smooth. Add sugar, blending well. Stir in peanuts. Roll
into walnut-size balls.

Roll or dip each ball in melted chocolate, coating well. Place on wax paper.
Chill at least 30 minutes. Store in covered container in refrigerator.
Enjoy
Bob

"SC" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> I am trying to get some interesting truffle ideas for Valentines Day.
> I'd love to try a peanut butter Milk or white chocolate truffle.
>
> I know the easiest way would be to melt peanut butter chips with the
> chocolate with hot cream to make a ganache. But, I somehow think real
> peanut butter will taste a lot better (and have a much better mouth
> feel) than the chips.
>
> I am thinking I can chop the chocolate fine in a food processor, add
> the PB and then blend as I pour in the hot cream. This should get
> everything well mixed and emulsified.
>
> What does everyone think? Has anyone tried this before?
>
> I also hope the filling is soft and creamy but firm enough to either
> dip or mold with a chocolate coating. I suppose that only takes
> getting it nice and firm within the fridge before coating, etc.
> Thanks,
>
> SC
>
>