Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Homemade Chocolate Truffles


Last weekend, I threw a bridal shower for my good friend. It was the first shower I'd ever thrown so I felt a little clueless about it but it turned out great! Instead of getting together at my tiny apartment, we just went out for brunch in San Francisco. There were tasty mimosas, lots of good food, and tons of love for the bride-to-be!

To thank everyone for coming, I put together bags of homemade chocolate truffles, and not to toot my own horn but they were a hit! They couldn't have been easier to make, just a little messy...as in, my hands were completely coated in chocolate by the end of the process. Hence the lack of step-by-step pictures in this post; I didn't want to coat my camera in chocolate too.

I definitely recommend making these as a party favor, a gift for someone special, or heck, a gift for yourself!

Homemade Chocolate Truffles
12 ounces good dark chocolate, roughly chopped (I used Scharffen Berger Semisweet)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons liqueur (you could use Kahlua, Grand Marnier, but I just used straight Jack Daniels)
About 1/2 cup cocoa powder for outer coating

In a small saucepan, heat the butter and heavy cream just until they start to boil. Pour the cream and butter over the chopped chocolate in a medium size bowl. Let everything sit for about 3 minutes - the warm cream will slowly melt the chocolate. Then gently stir it all together until smooth - you may have to pop the bowl in the microwave for a few minutes to warm it up a bit more and make sure there are no clumps of chocolate. Once everything is fairly smooth, add in the vanilla and liqueur and stir until combined.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the chocolate cool in the refrigerator for about 2 hours. The chocolate should be firm but slightly malleable. 

Here's the fun part! Scoop out small balls of chocolate (about a tablespoon each) and use your hands to roll them and even them out. You WILL get chocolate all over your hands, so don't be afraid to just go for it! After creating a ball, you can finish it off by rolling it in cocoa powder to give it a nicer finish.

Or...not so nice of a finish...some of my truffles didn't turn out so spherical but they still tasted good!



When the truffles are all rolled out, store them in the refrigerator, tightly wrapped, until you're ready to eat them.

Here are some photos of the truffles in action! 




And finally, Poppy returns! Like father, like daughter, right? They seriously look related.

1 comment:

  1. best shower and favors ever! Thank you so much!

    ReplyDelete