Chocolate Truffles - For The Gourmet Seven

Here comes my first post for The Gourmet Seven. Chocolates are synonymous with Love, be it the love shared between a parent and a child or a husband and a wife or simply between two friends. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, love is in the air. So the theme for this month was chocolate and the source was BBC Good Food. Scouring the website was a visual treat in itself. To tell you the truth I was going through it for the first time and I have a big list of bookmarked recipes to try out.  For today’s post I chose these simple yet decadent Chocolate Truffles. These could be the perfect gift for your loved ones.

Chocolate truffles, rich bite sized rounds, made from a creamy mixture of chocolate, cream and butter. These are generally flavored with a small quantity of alcohol or any other extracts or fruit purees. A chocolate Truffle is purposefully rolled into mis-shaped rounds to resemble their namesake fungi that grow around the roots of trees in France and Italy. These are traditionally rolled in unsweetened cocoa powder to give them the look of dirt that the real fungi grow in, they can also be coated in toasted chopped nuts, icing sugar or toasted desiccated coconut.

What you’ll need

1. Bittersweet Chocolate or Milk Chocolate – 250 gms
2. Heavy Cream or Whipping Cream – 125 ml
3. Unsalted Butter – 2 tbsp

For coating the truffles

1. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2. Icing Sugar
3. Toasted Chopped Nuts
4. Toasted Desiccated Coconut

Method

1. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place it in a glass bowl.
2. Add the cream and butter to a saucepan.
3. Heat this on a medium flame and remove from heat just when you start seeing the sides of the cream bubbling. (Do not let it boil)
4. Add this cream and butter mixture to the chocolate and let it sit for about a minute.
5. Now slowly stir in and mix well, until and chocolate is melted and blended well with the cream. This is called Ganache.
6. If the chocolate hasn’t melted fully, microwave for about a minute.
7. Mix it well, cover with a cling film and refrigerate for several hours or overnight until the ganache is firm.
8. Keep the ingredients for coating the truffles ready in separate bowls.
9. Remove the set ganache from the refrigerator, scoop out about a tbsp of ganache, with the help of a spoon or a melon baller or a small ice cream scoop, and shape them into balls quickly. Roll into any of the coatings of cocoa powder or chopped nuts, icing sugar etc. The choice is entirely yours. Place the prepared truffles on a plate and keep the refrigerated until serving.

Note:

1. I have not flavored them with any kind of alcohol or puree. If you want to, then add it to the ganache mix well and refrigerate.
2. Work quickly while preparing the truffles as the ganache tends to melt easily.
3. Keep the truffles always refrigerated.
4. They store for about a couple of weeks when refrigerated.