Chocolate Truffles

Published : June 09, 2017

“Oooh truffles – what a treat” everyone exclaims when presented with a selection of what they believe are fancy chocolates. In fact, it’s very easy to make delicious truffles at home.

So what is a truffle?

Traditionally a truffle is made with a chocolate cream centre coated in chocolate or cocoa powder, usually in a rough ‘ball’ shape. Other types of filling could include caramel, nuts or nougat. If you want to sample something really different, the Canadian ‘Harvey’ truffle contains peanut butter. But whatever your truffle includes, it is essential it melts easily in the mouth to give that delicious, chocolaty taste!

The word ‘truffle’ was originally given to a fungus that grows around the roots of trees in France and Italy. They are usually hunted down by specially trained pigs and are considered a great culinary delicacy. A good truffle can sell for up to $2,000 and can therefore be a very lucrative find. Because chocolate truffles were traditionally made in a lopsided, round shape similar in both size and appearance to the traditional truffle, the name soon stuck.

Making truffles (the chocolate variety) is a reasonably quick and easy activity, with no special timings or temperatures needed. It is essential that fresh, quality ingredients are used to ensure a delicious end result. The choice of chocolate is crucial; standard bars of chocolate generally don’t melt (or reset) properly, so it is recommended that you follow in the footsteps of many professional chocolatiers and use a good quality compound chocolate.

Easy chocolate truffles

Ingredients

250g dark or milk chocolate (chopped into small pieces)
1/3 cup thickened cream

Method

Place cream in a pan and bring to the boil.
Remove pan from heat. Add the chocolate and stir until fully melted and the mixture is smooth. If it is taking a long time to melt, return the pan to the switched-off hotplate (the residual heat is enough to melt the chocolate).
Place the chocolate mix in a dish and refrigerate for approximately 1½ hours until hardened.
Using a teaspoon, scoop out the truffle mix and roll into small, bite sized balls.
Allow the truffles to reach room temperature before dipping in melted chocolate and rolling in crushed nuts, coconut, cocoa powder or use your own ideas. Alternatively you can roll the undipped truffles in nuts or cocoa powder.

Words, recipes and image by Chocolate Attraction.