I noticed quite a few posts about making truffles. What are everyone's
favorite recipes? I'd love a few to try (the caramel ones sounded very
interesting...I think they were from Wendy).

Phoo, now I'm hungry!

Thanks,
Stef

The caramel ones I made were very sweet. The kids really liked them, but
they were not the best I've ever made. It was also very hard to work with
the centers. They froze semi-firm, but were very sticky. The centers dusted
with confectioner's sugar were easier to handle. Sorry, I took that book
back to the library, so I don't have the recipe anymore, but it was in
_Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers_ by Nick
Malgieri. This book also had the black and white truffles I made in it.
Those were very good.

I much preferred the caramels I made using a soft caramel recipe, then using
molds coated with dark chocolate, inserted a small piece of the soft
caramel, then covering the bottom with more dark chocolate. Those turned out
very well - we were just mucking about with the last of the tempered
chocolate, and it was late, and we were tired.... but amazingly enough, they
were great! I can post the soft caramel recipe if anyone is interested.

Here's a recipe that is my very favorite:

Basic Truffles (all measurements US standard)
ganache:
1/4 c. heavy cream
2 vanilla beans
a few grains salt
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used Peter's Burgundy chunks)
1/2 T unsalted butter, at room temp.

coating:
1 1/2 pounds bittersweet couverture
4 c. unsweetened cocoa (optional)

Combine cream, vanilla beans and salt in small saucepan over med. heat.
Bring to a boil, remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 min. Melt
chocolate. Strain cream mixture through a sieve into a small mixing bowl.
Scrape seeds from vanilla beans and add to cream. Whisk in melted chocolate.
Stir in butter (in small pieces) and blend until smooth. Allow to cool to
room temp., cover with plastic wrap, and freeze overnight.

To shape the centers, use a small melon baller to scoop out the frozen
ganache. Shape gently into a ball with your hands and put on cookie sheet
covered with parchment paper. You can dip the melon baller into
confectioner's sugar, and dust your hands if needed. Freeze until firm, at
least 2 hours.

To coat truffles, temper the couverture. Put cocoa into a cake pan. Dip
centers into tempered chocolate, roll in cocoa and allow to set. Move to a
parchment covered cookie sheet when set.

These keep for about a week. Maybe longer, but they get eaten before that,
so I don't really know! <G>

This recipe was adapted from the Bittersweet Truffles recipe in _Sweet
Seduction_ by Adrienne Welch.

--
Wendy
http://griffinsflight.com/Quilting/quilt1.htm
de-fang email address to reply


"SC" > wrote in message
...
> I noticed quite a few posts about making truffles. What are everyone's
> favorite recipes? I'd love a few to try (the caramel ones sounded very
> interesting...I think they were from Wendy).
>
> Phoo, now I'm hungry!
>
> Thanks,
> Stef
>
>

Wow, those sound terrific, especially with the vanilla bean! Yes, can I
(we) have the soft caramel recipe please?

Stef


"frood" > wrote in message
r.com...
> The caramel ones I made were very sweet. The kids really liked them, but
> they were not the best I've ever made. It was also very hard to work with
> the centers. They froze semi-firm, but were very sticky. The centers
dusted
> with confectioner's sugar were easier to handle. Sorry, I took that book
> back to the library, so I don't have the recipe anymore, but it was in
> _Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers_ by Nick
> Malgieri. This book also had the black and white truffles I made in it.
> Those were very good.
>
> I much preferred the caramels I made using a soft caramel recipe, then
using
> molds coated with dark chocolate, inserted a small piece of the soft
> caramel, then covering the bottom with more dark chocolate. Those turned
out
> very well - we were just mucking about with the last of the tempered
> chocolate, and it was late, and we were tired.... but amazingly enough,
they
> were great! I can post the soft caramel recipe if anyone is interested.
>
> Here's a recipe that is my very favorite:
>
> Basic Truffles (all measurements US standard)
> ganache:
> 1/4 c. heavy cream
> 2 vanilla beans
> a few grains salt
> 8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used Peter's Burgundy chunks)
> 1/2 T unsalted butter, at room temp.
>
> coating:
> 1 1/2 pounds bittersweet couverture
> 4 c. unsweetened cocoa (optional)
>
> Combine cream, vanilla beans and salt in small saucepan over med. heat.
> Bring to a boil, remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 min. Melt
> chocolate. Strain cream mixture through a sieve into a small mixing bowl.
> Scrape seeds from vanilla beans and add to cream. Whisk in melted
chocolate.
> Stir in butter (in small pieces) and blend until smooth. Allow to cool to
> room temp., cover with plastic wrap, and freeze overnight.
>
> To shape the centers, use a small melon baller to scoop out the frozen
> ganache. Shape gently into a ball with your hands and put on cookie sheet
> covered with parchment paper. You can dip the melon baller into
> confectioner's sugar, and dust your hands if needed. Freeze until firm, at
> least 2 hours.
>
> To coat truffles, temper the couverture. Put cocoa into a cake pan. Dip
> centers into tempered chocolate, roll in cocoa and allow to set. Move to a
> parchment covered cookie sheet when set.
>
> These keep for about a week. Maybe longer, but they get eaten before that,
> so I don't really know! <G>
>
> This recipe was adapted from the Bittersweet Truffles recipe in _Sweet
> Seduction_ by Adrienne Welch.
>
> --
> Wendy
> http://griffinsflight.com/Quilting/quilt1.htm
> de-fang email address to reply
>
>
> "SC" > wrote in message
> ...
> > I noticed quite a few posts about making truffles. What are everyone's
> > favorite recipes? I'd love a few to try (the caramel ones sounded very
> > interesting...I think they were from Wendy).
> >
> > Phoo, now I'm hungry!
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Stef
> >
> >
>
>