Chocolate Truffles

A quick post tonight as I still have a million and one things to get done.  But I wanted to share this recipe while there is still time (as if!) to make these.  Trust me - they're worth finding the time to make.  Though I didn't find the time to make any myself this year.  This is another post that I never actually posted last year ;)

Back in my old life when I actually had some time, we used to make these for friends and family over the holidays every year.  And I have had many, many friends request a batch of these well in advance.  That's how good they are.  And they're amazingly simple to make. 

The most important thing to have excellent results is to use quality chocolate.  We always use dark, dark chocolate (probably at least 70%).  We typically use chocolate that we bring home from France, so I can't share a specific brand with you.  But we have, on occasion, bought some of the dark chocolate bars at Costco and had good results with that.

Believe it or not, these are actually freezer-friendly.  I wouldn't necessarily freeze them before giving them out as gifts, but we have often frozen post-Christmas left-overs and eaten them over the following months (in other words, a frozen one every time I opened the freezer!). 

The recipe below is for plain ol' chocolate truffles.  We have, however, been known to spike them with some Baileys or Amarula from time to time ;) 

1 C 35% cream
8 oz. (approximately 240g) chopped dark chocolate
1/3 C butter at room temperature
cocoa powder

1.  In a saucepan, gently heat the cream (without bringing it to a boil) and incorporate the chopped chocolate.  Stir until melted, taking care to not let the chocolate burn.

2.  Add the butter and mix well until the butter is melted.

3.  Cover and refrigerate for approximately 4 hours or until the consistency of the mixture is firm enough to be able to form truffles - if not, just eat it directly out of the saucepan with a spoon ;).  

4.  Dust your hands with cocoa powder and scoop a teaspoon sized amount of the mixture into your hands.  Roll until you have formed a ball.  Continue to do same until you have used all of the chocolate mixture.  Keep coating your hands with cocoa, as needed, along the way.  

5.  Roll the truffles in cocoa until fully coated.

6.  Eat.  Stop eating before you get sick.

Options for garnish:

• grilled coconut flakes with five spice powder
• cocoa and five spice powder
• cocoa and ground cardamom
• chopped pistachios
• ground hazelnuts 
• etc, etc, etc...  

Variation:  For mint chocolate truffles, add 1/2 C of chopped fresh mint to the cream.  Bring to a boil and let infuse for approximately one hour at room temperature.  Bring to a boil again and pass through a strainer to remove the mint.  Wait until the cream has cooled somewhat and continue with the rest of the recipe.

Difficulty level: easy to moderate

For a soy and/or nut-free version, just be sure to read the label on your chocolate (use a brand such as Enjoy Life).