Ingredients:
9 ounces semisweet chocolate or bittersweet -- coarsely chopped |
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream |
2 tablespoons unsalted butter |
1 tablespoon light corn syrup |
2 tablespoons one of the following: cognac, dark rum, grand marnier, framboise, kirsch, frangelico, amaretto, kahlua or port |
---CHOCOLATE AND COCOA COATING--- |
8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate |
2 cups dutch process cocoa powder -- sifted |
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Preparation / Directions:
If you omit liquor flavoring, reduce chocolate form 9-8 ounces. For microwave-oriented cooks, you can melt the chocolate at 50% power for about 3 minutes. The ganache mixture is quite forgiving. If it cools too much in step 1, place the bowl in a larger pan of warm water and stir the mixture until it has softened and warmed up. If this over warms the mixture cool it again as directed. The same flexibility applied if you over whip the ganache my mistake. Simply warm it over hot water, cool it and whip it again.
For the Ganache: Melt chocolate in medium heatproof bowl set over pan of almost simmering water, stirring once or twice, until smooth. Set bowl aside. Bring cream butter and corn syrup to strong simmer (about 160F) in nonreactive pan over low heat. Remove pan from heat, cool for 5 minutes, then whisk into chocolate. Whisk in liquor. Refrigerate mixture until it cools to 80F, 15-20 minutes.
Either in bowl of electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment or handheld electric mixture, whip mixture at medium speed until slightly lightened and thickened to a texture like store-bought canned chocolate frosting, 25-30 seconds. Spoon ganache into large pastry bag fitted with 1/2-inch plain tube. Pipe 3/4-inch spheres onto a pan covered with parchment or wax paper. They do not form perfect balls and will droop slightly. OR use mini (1 tablespoon) ice cream scooper/cookie scooper to form truffles. Refrigerate mounds until hardened at least an hour.
For the Coating: Following directions as in ganache, melt coating chocolate then cool to 90F making certain that no water comes into contact with chocolate. Arrange chilled truffle mounds, bowl of melted chocolate and cocoa-filled high-sided roasting pan on work surface. Working one mound at a time, dip palm of one hand about 1/4-inch deep into melted chocolate, pass one truffle mound with other hand to chocolate-covered hand and close hand around mound to coat, re dipping hand into chocolate every third or fourth mound. Drop coated truffle into cocoa; roll to coat using fork held in now empty clean hand , leaving truffles in cocoa until chocolate coating has set, about 1 minutes. Repeat process until all mounds are in pan of cocoa. Gently roll 5 to 6 truffles at a time in medium strainer to remove excess cocoa, then transfer to serving plate or tightly covered container. Can be refrigerated for up to one week.
Chocolate Nut Truffles Pulse 1 cup unsalted pistachio nuts or toasted hazelnuts, almond, pecans or walnuts with 1 tablespoon sugar to a fine powder about the texture of coarse sand, in food processor work bowl fitted with steel blade. Follow Master Recipe, substituting ground nuts for cocoa powder.
Chocolate Coconut Truffles Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350F. Spread 1 cup grated, sweetened coconut in thin layer on dry cookie sheet; toast until golden brown, about 8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes. Follow the master recipe, substituting toasted coconut for cocoa powder.
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