susie_flo | Latest batch of truffles

This is just a bit of fluff for any chocoholics out there...

I returned from Bruges with 3 kilos of couverture in my suitcase. (Couverture is just another word for chocolate that is of sufficient quality for tempering and moulding - it's often sold to chocolatiers in the form of buttons or pellets.) I brought some home primarily because I had promised my friend Alice that we would have a truffle-making day when I got back. So on Friday we got our aprons on and made three batches of truffles.

The truffles themselves are extremely quick and easy to make. But because I wanted an excuse to try out my new moulds, we also went through the faff of tempering and moulding a set of outer shells. (This is not at all necessary when making truffles... they're just as nice rolled in cocoa, flaked chocolate or crushed amaretti biscuits)

Anyway here are a few pics of the results...

First - the dark rum truffles. I suspect these are only suitable for people who like their chocolate very dark and not that sweet. I prefer something a little sweeter myself, but I think that he ridged moulds work well with the shiny dark choc.

Second - the vanilla vodka truffles. These are by far my favourites - the ganache filling is beyond gorgeous. We made it with white chocolate and absolut vanilla vodka and then decided to pipe it into the milk choc shells. (Unfortunately I failed to pay attention when tempering the shells and got the temperature out by 3 or 4 degrees... as a result they look a bit marbled and don't have the proper shininess they're supposed to have.)

Finally, the Frangelico truffles. I can't resist posting two pics, simpy because I love the way these look on the outside. The shells are filled with a milk chocolate ganache with a fairly large dose of Frangelico (you have to use a lot otherwise you can't really taste the hazelnut). In retrospect I think I might put these into a milk choc shell next time, as the white choc has a strong vanilla flavour that interferes a bit with the hazelnut.

If they weren't so damned fragile, I'd post little tasters out to you all... but failing that, you might like to have a go yourselves. The basic truffles are really quick and easy. (I posted the basic recipe and instructions here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/7831123/Chocolate-Truffle-Recipe )