Espresso Truffles

Recently I visited one of my favorite baking shops (Sweet Cherry’s Bakery ) and picked up some supplies to make truffles.  Valentine’s Day is approaching so I thought I’d knock some chocolates out ahead of time!

Now, you can use your imagination here – make milk chocolate or dark chocolate truffles.  Add in a flavored liquor or some orange zest to kick things up a notch.  Add in some ground cayenne for a Mexican chocolate kick.  Roll in a variety of ingredients or just dip them in some more melted chocolate (my personal favorite) then sprinkle with colored sugar or (swoon) -sea salt.

Today I decided to make Espresso Truffles, because I’m a big fan of adding anything coffee to anything chocolate.  Coffee brings out the flavors in the chocolate oh-so-well.

Truffles really aren’t that hard to make.  You could actually make them using ordinary stuff you can get at your local grocer. Let me show you how.

Measure out 3/4 cup of heavy cream into a pot.

Now, don’t turn this on high.  You need to heat cream gently, so it doesn’t scorch on the bottom of the pot.  Turn your burner on low to medium-low and just barely bring this to a simmer.

While, that’s heating, dump one bag of dark chocolate chips into a bowl.  I used Ghirardelli.

Now, let me just say – I am NOT a professional candy maker!  You can get as fancy as you want with your chocolate.  I just wanted to use one that everyone could get a hold of locally.

Anyway, dump these into a bowl and when your cream is heated, pour it right over top of these.

Add in 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter.

Use a whisk and gently begin to stir this all together until it gets nice and glossy and smooth.

Add in one teaspoon of good vanilla extract.

And also add in 2 tablespoons of expresso powder. If you can’t find any, put some coffee into a coffee grinder, and grind it into powder.  Or you can order some at any one of these places.

Stir it up again with your whisk, really mixing well.

Then pour it into a 9 X 9 baking dish or pan and pop it into the freezer for about 30 minutes.  Or you could put it in the refrigerator for several hours.

Or you could put it out on my porch for 5 minutes.  Cuz it’s stinkin’ frigid here this week!

I kind of shake it with my hands just to level it out real nice.

What we’ve just made is chocolate ganache.  You could pour this warm over a cake or brownies and it would be fabulous! But we’re making truffles, so let’s get on with it!

Now, there are a few ways to make your truffles – the clean way, or the messy way.

The clean way (which is highly unlike me) is what I did today.  I used a small cookie dough scoop to scoop mine.  But you could just use a teaspoon and roll the truffles in your hands, letting them melt all over your palms and making a huge gooey, but fun mess.

It’s all about what type of personality you are I suppose.

Mr. Wonderful would never, ever want to roll them in his hands.  It goes against the grain of all that’s good and right in his world.  When we eat any finger food, like chicken wings? He only uses one hand so the other can be clean all the time. Not me of course, I tend to grab those babies with both hands and eat away!

Anyway, scoop out a bit of the now-fudgy-like chilled ganache.

Place your truffle on some wax or parchment paper or a Silpat mat lining a baking sheet.

Continue to scoop out balls until you’ve emptied the entire pan.

Then it’s time to be artful (not one of my strong points).

I decided to melt two different bowls of chocolate to dip my truffles in – one white chocolate, and the other milk chocolate.  Melt about one cup of the chips in a microwave safe glass bowl,  starting at 30 seconds, then stir, and if needed, continue to microwave for additional periods of 20 seconds, stirring after each time.

Once they’re melted, let them cool down for a couple of minutes.  You don’t want super hot chocolate melting your truffles when you dip them.

I have this little dipping thing I got from Pampered Chef that works well.

But a fork works just as well, if not better.

 

Now, while the chocolate coating is still wet, you can sprinkle on some sea salt or colored sugar.

You can also put a couple of tablespoons of your melted chocolate into small baggies that zip shut.

Snip off just a small sliver off the corner.

And use this to pipe some pretty lines across the milk chocolate dipped truffle (once it’s cooled from the dipping).

For something different, try using cocoa powder or powdered sugar to roll them in instead of dipping in chocolate.

 

Another option is using colored sugars to roll the un-dipped chocolate in.

Just drop the scoop of ganache right onto the colored sugar and roll to coat.

I used pink and red for a Valentine’s Day effect.

I love having the varieties to display.

Get some different colored little candy liners to display them in to really show off your Valentine spirit.

And for just a quarter or so, you can buy boxes at Sweet Cherry (or your local candy store) to box them up and tie with a red bow for all the people you love.

Your family and friends will think you’re so special.

Try making truffles before Valentines for someone you love.  Bring your kids in for the rolling fun.

And above all else…

Eat chocolate!

Katie

Would you just LOOK at what other great food bloggers are making for Food Network’s Comfort Food Feast featuring chocolate?

The Lemon Bowl: Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Creamy Cheese Frosting
Feed Me Phoebe: Dark Chocolate Beauty Bark with Chia Seeds, Pepitas and Goji Berries
The Heritage Cook: Gluten-Free Black & White Brownies with Orange Glaze
Virtually Homemade: Chocolate Covered Strawberries with Coconut
Creative Culinary: Raspberry Boccone Dolce (Pavlova with Chocolate and Raspberries)
Daisy at Home: Mocha Mousse Marshmallow Cake
The Mom 100: Molten Chocolate Peanut Butter Cakes
Dishin & Dishes: Espresso Truffles
Elephants and the Coconut Trees: Chocolate-Covered Strawberries
The Cultural Dish: Moroccan Pots de Creme
Red or Green: Dark Chocolate Truffles- 4 Flavors
Napa Farmhouse 1885: Chocolate-Coconut-Cashew Bark with Sea Salt
The Wimpy Vegetarian: Chocolate and Pretzel Bark with Sea Salt
In Jennie’s Kitchen: Fudgy, Chewy Brownies {dairy free}
Haute Apple Pie: Mississippi Mud Pie
Taste with the Eyes: Chocolate Mint Parfaits with Chocolate Hearts
Food for 7 Stages of Life: Everyday Chocolate Granola
FN Dish: Melt Hearts with Handmade Chocolate Sweets — Comfort Food Feast