In celebrating Valentine’s Day with homemade chocolate truffles, you will no doubt help your love shatter the remnants of another holiday tradition-namely a New Year’s resolution to lose weight.
So be it. Sometimes chocolate is worth it.
Chocolate truffles-so named because of their resemblance to the French fungal delicacy-have the image of a luxury item you would not dream of tackling in your home kitchen. But with a little organization, practice and good timing, anyone can make them.
“Making truffles at home is really easy,” says Christine M. Carbone, a Dallas food stylist and consultant, “once you understand the properties of chocolate.”
It can be temperamental.
If chocolate melts too quickly, it may become grainy. You can still work with grainy chocolate, but your truffles will be grainy too. If the chocolate takes on excessive moisture-say from steam escaping a double boiler over water that’s too hot-it may seize. When this happens, the chocolate becomes a dense, solid mass; it’s best to discard the lot and start over.
Truffles are made of chocolate melted with combinations of cream or butter, often sugar and sometimes eggs. They can be flavored with a variety of liquors, liqueurs, extracts or fruits.
The chocolate base is typically formed into a ball and rolled in a coating, such as cocoa powder or confectioner’s sugar, or dipped in a candy coating, or both.
The kind of chocolate makes a big difference. Flavor ranges from sweet milk chocolate to barely sweet bittersweet, and you can make truffles with everything from semisweet chocolate morsels to the finest imported Swiss or French bars. Adjust the chocolate to your own palate.
In general, patience is your best ally when melting chocolate, no matter which method you use-double boiler, water bath or microwave oven. Take care to use temperatures warm enough to melt it, but not hot enough to cook it. Stir frequently.
For melting chocolate in a microwave oven, Alice Medrich recommends these guidelines, based on a 600-watt microwave, in her book, “Cocolat: Extraordinary Desserts” (Warner Books, $35):
– Cut or break chocolate into small pieces.
– Use a microwave-safe bowl, jar or measuring cup.
– Stir it, as chocolate tends to hold its original shape even when melted so you cannot tell just by looking if it is ready.
– Melt chocolate uncovered.
Here are some sample microwave times to melt 6 ounces of different kinds of chocolate with no added ingredients:
For semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, medium (50 percent power), three minutes.
For milk chocolate, low (30 percent power), three minutes and 45 seconds.
For white chocolate, low, three minutes and 30 seconds.
After the chocolate is melted, it needs to cool so you can form it into balls.
Once your truffle base is done, you select a coating.
“Rolling them in cocoa or confectioner’s sugar is definitely the most common,” Carbone says. And easiest.
If you’re a truffle novice, it’s best to avoid recipes that call for dipping the truffles in a chocolate coating, usually tempered to get a glossy covering that sticks. Tempering requires slowly lowering and raising the temperature of chocolate until the fat stabilizes, making it easier to work with and preventing grey streaks in the final product.
For roll-on coatings besides cocoa and confectioner’s sugar, you can try ground nuts, toasted coconut, cinnamon powder, ground instant coffee crystals, ground banana chips or ground peppermints.
You also can form your truffle balls around small candied or dried fruits, fruit pieces or hazelnuts.
Truffles typically will keep well-wrapped for about a week in the refrigerator. They can be frozen in an airtight container for about a month. Remove from the freezer about five minutes before serving.
Truffles may be arranged decoratively on a platter or served in foil or paper candy cups. They go well with coffee, espresso, brandy and many liqueurs.
For the best first-time results, the easy truffle recipe is simple and the one most likely to yield beginner’s luck.
EASY TRUFFLES
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Yield: About 3 dozen
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, or 1 cup chopped, flaked coconut for garnish
1. Put chocolate into the top of a double boiler set over hot, not boiling, water. Stir until melted. Stir in condensed milk, vanilla and salt until well mixed. Let stand at room temperature or refrigerate briefly until cool enough to handle, 15 to 20 minutes.
2. With buttered hands, shape mixture into 1-inch balls. Roll balls in cocoa or coconut. Refrigerate to firm.
Nutrition information per serving: 73 calories; 3 grams fat; 2 milligrams cholesterol; 41 milligrams sodium; 40 percent calories from fat.
CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
Preparation time: 1 hour
Chilling time: 2 hours or more
Yield: About 50 truffles
1 2/3 cups whipping cream
7 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound semisweet chocolate, cut or broken into pieces
2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur, such as Grand Marnier (or to taste)
Unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting
1. Put cream and butter into a saucepan. Melt butter over medium heat, and then, stirring constantly, turn up the heat and let the mixture come just to a boil.
2. Off the heat, add the chocolate to the saucepan and stir until it is completely melted. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens and cools somewhat. Stir in the Grand Marnier, then cover mixture and refrigerate. Let the mixture thicken at least 2 hours, but stir it 3 or 4 times as it cools and hardens.
3. To form the truffles, scoop up portions of the chocolate with a spoon. Dust a flat counter surface thickly with cocoa. Then, with cocoa-dusted palms, roll the chocolate portions between your hands to make balls. Roll the balls in cocoa, place them on a wax-paper-covered plate and refrigerate them again immediately.
Nutrition information per serving: 96 calories; 7 grams fat; 16 milligrams cholesterol; 28 milligrams sodium; 68 percent calories from fat.
Truffle tips
Truffles are easier to make if you are organized. Here are some helpful hints:
– Have any liquid mixtures already combined and ready to add in once your chocolate mixture is melted.
– Use wooden spoons to add ingredients to your chocolate base and beat until you get a glossy texture.
– Most recipes call for the chocolate base mixture to be chilled for some time before shaping.
– Remember that the truffles don’t have to be perfectly round. A roughly spherical shape is the goal.
– When you get ready to coat the truffles, have all your coating material at hand in separate bowls.
– Use chilled plates covered with wax paper as you form and coat your truffles. This will help the truffles keep their shape and avoid sticking.
– Handle the chocolate as little as possible. Once the truffle base has chilled, the more body heat it encounters from your hands, the more the texture will be affected.
