Sinfully Good Dark Chocolate Truffles

Hi,

I wanted to say good evening, but I'm not entirely convinced that this could be classified as the evening so much as the night time. But I can't exactly say good night everyone, as that implies i'm writing purely to say ta ta, and lets face it, that is just weird.

Typing for the sake of typing. Which isn't really out of the ordinary. Fidgeting seems to always be on my mind. When i'm sitting, I tap my foot. When i'm standing, I twiddle my hands. 

I've been meaning to get this post up all week, but i've been busy baking away. I've had a lot of orders on this week, which is absolutely, flipping fantastic! I love it!

These truffles I made on Monday though are ridiculously good. All silky, luscious and delicious!

What makes them better is that they are so easy to make. The only difficult thing about these is resisting the urge to shove them all into your gob in one sitting. 

I decided to add a coating of bitter cocoa powder onto these as I feel it gives them an edge. The ganache is so sweet and decadent, that adding an extra coat of something sweet, like milk or white chocolate would be way too sickly for my tastes... well in the sense that there would be nothing to cut through the sweetness of them. 

In one bite, you first get the slightly bitter, sharp taste of the cocoa powder, then followed by the sinking sensation of the smooth, soft ganache within. It is sweet and melts in your mouth. Each bite adds a different sensation. Bitter, sweet, silky and satisfying. Making these pretty damn good!

I didn't get a recipe, as I didn't think one was needed. I also had my own idea on how to make these and wanted to try that. You never know until you try.

Every now and then, I feel the need, not for speed, but for chocolate. Something really rich and indulgent. Something that will coat your teeth when you bite into it and leave you with a smile on your face. Something purely delicious and unapologetic in its decadency. 

I don't really bother about calorie counting as a little of what you fancy does you good. Or at least that is what my mother always taught me and who am I to question what my mother taught me. The woman's never wrong.

On with the truffles eh?

The ingredients you'll be requiring are:

- 400g dark, good quality chocolate, grated or chopped up into little chunks 

- 600ml of double cream

- 1 knob of butter

- 1 twist of table salt

- 50g cocoa powder

- 100g dark chocolate, same as for the ganache 

Now you could also coat these in white chocolate, chopped nuts, icing sugar, whatever you want really. I find that powders or nuts would work the best though. Nothing that wouldn't normally go well with chocolate. 

For example, I wouldn't recommend garlic granules or crushed up crisps. Even though I do feel cheese and onion crisps and chocolate pair very well together, I wouldn't go as far as to add them to truffles. Least of all because the crisps would go soggy after a short while.

The thing that is going to take the longest in this baking adventure is the waiting for the ganache to set enough to be able to take scoops of it and roll. So if you are planning on eating these for a snack of are having a dinner party, then I'd be sure to get up early enough to make the ganache, let it set, scoop it out, roll it, coat it and then let them set again, to be able to have them ready for eating in time. On the other hand, make them the day before. They last a long time in the fridge and then you can spend the day of, farting around and chilling. 

The method for making these is:

Making the Ganache:

- Put the cream into a non stick pot and heat on a relatively hot heat until the cream is just before boiling point. This will be when the cream has infrequent bubbles popping up every now and then.

- Add the chopped up dark chocolate and stir until the mixture is smooth and silky looking. This will go through stages where you'll think it is all ruined and not working. It'll look lumpy, then split, then a weird light-ish brown colour. Then all of a sudden, it'll go a deep, rich, velvety chocolate colour.

Tip: I find that if you stir small circles in and around the mixture, it helps it set and combine easier and will cut down on the chance of it splitting. Also, when you add the chocolate, make sure to take it off the heat, you don't want the cream burning.

When the cream and chocolate have combined and are all yummy looking, add the butter and salt and mix this in. Gradually, as the butter melts and combines, the mixture will become silky and shiny to a greater level. It'll look even more velvety and sinfully good.

Pop this into a clean bowl, preferably glass and cover with cling film. Allow this to set, either in the fridge or in a cool cool place where there isn't much heat at all. This will allow it to harden and set. The only thing I don't like about putting it in the fridge is that it develops this glaze. Not harmful by any means, it just loses its shiny and glossy appearance which saddens the perfectionist and magpie in me.

..... A WHILE AFTER, AROUND 4 HOURS OR SO.....

 Huzzah! So the ganache is done and now you are ready for scooping and rolling. You'll need a tray or two, some baking paper, a pair of rubber gloves and a bowl of melted dark chocolate, a bowl of cocoa and a bowl of anything else you are wanting to coat your truffles in.

So, first things first, get a teaspoon and scoop out evenly sized scoops and set these onto a piece of baking paper. This way they aren't going to stick. Once these are all scooped, you want to roll them. This is where the gloves come in. It'll stop them from melting in your hand and generally it is more hygienic. 

Dust some cocoa powder onto your gloves to stop the chocolate from becoming gloppy and sticking. Take one of the scooped out slivers and roll into a smooth ball between your hands. Do this for all the scoops.

Melt some of the dark chocolate in a bowl, over a pot of boiling water. Once it is melted, allow it to cool slightly. It would be a shame if after coming all this way, that your truffles melted on account of the dipping chocolate being too hot. 

Once it is ready, dip one truffle into the chocolate at a time and then dip into whatever accompliment that tickles your fancy. At this stage I used a different spoon for scooping over the chocolate and dusting with the cocoa powder. If i used one for all, can you imagine the mess it would create?

Once these are all dipped and coated, lay them onto the baking paper (well, you should be doing that as you go anyway... the truffles aren't just going to hover when you work your way through them)

Pop them into the fridge until they are completely set and can be handled. You need them to set enough to be able to be handled as if they aren't ready and you try and pick one up, even the gentlest touch will morph these into a different, less appealing shape. You want these to be uniform and to be presented in a delicious looking way. After all, we first eat with our eyes and then our mouths. 

Then they are done! Yay!

This was a short blog, but a good one I feel as it was a new baking adventure for me and what a great one at that!

Have a delicious evening everyone!

Happy eating!

Ciara