Dark Chocolate Truffles

makes about 50

Although these should be stored in the fridge, they are in a whole other class when brought closer to room temperature. It’s best to pull them out of the fridge about 30 minutes before serving.

1 cup (237 ml) heavy cream
2 tsp (25 g) granulated sugar (light corn syrup is even better because the truffles keep better. Use it if you have it.)
12 oz (336 g) dark chocolate, I used Callebaut
1 T (14 g) butter

cocoa powder, for coating
finely chopped almonds, for rolling (or any other nut)

1. Chop that block o’ chocolate fine! I like to shave it into small pieces with a serrated knife. If your pieces are too big, they may not melt. Once chopped, put it the chocolate in a dry bowl.

2. Pour the cream, sugar and butter into a pot and bring to a boil over high heat. As I keep harping, don’t get distracted staring out the window at the neighbors. This small amount heats up pretty fast. Man, do I hate cleaning that up if it boils over.

3. Once boiled, remove pot from the heat and pour contents all at once over the chocolate. If some chocolate pieces aren’t submerged, push them under with a spoon.

4. Let it sit on the counter for a minute. The heat from the cream will penetrate the chocolate and melt it.

5. Now start whisking. To get the best texture, it’s important to create a good emulsion. The better the emulsion, the smoother the texture of the truffle will be. (This is true for any recipe where you whisk cream into chocolate.)

Start from the center and whisk fast in small, concentric circles. If the center starts getting shiny, it’s a good sign that the emulsion id going well. Keep whisking, making the circles wider, as more cream gets pulled in and incorporated. In a minute, you will have a bowl of shiny “ganache.”

6. I like to scrape it into another clean bowl, and refrigerate it for a couple of hours, just so the ganache has a chance to harden.

(You can also make it the day before. The ganache will firm up considerably and be difficult to scoop into balls. Let the bowl rest at room temperature for 45 minutes, and then the scooping will go smoothly.

7. When you come back to it a couple of hours later, the surface will have dulled over and that’s ok. The texture should be firm but scoopable. As you can see, I use a Melon Baller.

8. The way I’ve been taught to go about making quick work of this is to swoosh the melon baller in a cup of hot water first. This warms up the metal. Shake off the excess water but don’t bother drying it off. Then dig the mellon baller into the chocolate and twist, all in one motion. No hesitation.

9. Give the melon baller a good wack or two against the side of a parchment covered sheet pan and the chocolate should pop right out. You can get your bearings with a few practice balls. If they’re stubborn, give them a little nudge with a spoon. If some of them look all crazy, you can always roll them between the palms of your hands. But I like them imperfect.

Repeat the procedure for each and every ball. Swirl melon baller in hot water, scoop, and wack them out.

10. Soon enough the surface looks raped and pillaged and you may wonder how you will get another nice ball out of the ganache. Take a piece of plastic wrap and press the whole surface down until it’s an even plane, and carry on with the swoosh, scoop, wack method. Keep going until there’s no more ganache.

11. Prepare two bowls, one filled with cocoa powder and one with finely chopped nuts for rolling. Roll some of the balls in cocoa powder, and some of the balls in nuts.

Be warned, these are the beginnings of an addiction!