Dark Chocolate Truffles

Truffles are one of the most sought after sweet treats, popular around the world.

What are truffles?

A chocolate truffle is a type of chocolate confectionery, traditionally made with a chocolate ganache centre coated in chocolate, cocoa powder or chopped toasted nuts (typically hazelnuts, almonds or coconut).

Their name derives from their traditional shape, which resembles the truffle, an edible part of the tuber fungus.

History of Truffles

The chocolate truffle is thought to have been first created by N. Petrucelli in Chambéry, France in December 1895..
There are now three main types of chocolate truffles: European, Swiss, and American:

The "French truffle" is made with fresh cream and chocolate and then rolled into cocoa or nut powder.
The "Belgian truffle" or praline is made with dark or milk chocolate filled with ganache, butter-cream or nut pastes.
The "Swiss truffle" is made by combining melted chocolate into a boiling mixture of dairy cream and butter, which is poured into moulds to set before sprinkling with cocoa powder.
The "California truffle" is a larger, lumpier version of the French truffle, first made by Alice Medrich in 1973 after she tasted truffles in France.
The "American truffle" is a half-egg shaped chocolate-coated truffle, a mixture of dark or milk chocolates with butterfat and, in some cases, hardened coconut oil. Joseph Schmidt is credited with its creation in the mid-1980's.
The "European truffle" is made with syrup and a base made up of cocoa powder, milk powder, fats, and other such ingredients to create an oil-in-water type emulsion.
The "vegan truffle" can have any shape or flavor, but is adapted to vegetarian diets by replacing dairy with nut milks and butters.

So now, lets move on to the recipe...

Ingredients:

• Dark Chocolate- 25o Gm 
• Fresh /Heavy Cream - 500 Ml
• Instant Coffee - 1Tsp (Optional)

Coating

Dark Chocolate- 1 Cup (melted)

Decorations

• Chocolate Vermicelli
• Melted Dark/Milk/White Chocolate Drizzle
• Sprinkles
• Dessicated Coconut
• Roasted Nuts(Almonds/Pistachios/Hazelnuts)
• Cocoa Powder
• Edible Gold/Silver Dust

Method

Take a heavy bottom pan, add the cream and bring it to a boil or until you see small bubbles at the rim. Do not boil the cream. Take it off the flame.

Take a glass bowl and add the roughly chopped dark chocolate to it.

Once you  take your cream off the heat, add it to the chocolate, let all the chocolate sink in the cream and leave it undisturbed for about 2-3 minutes.

Now take a whisk and mix the choco-cream mix until its smooth and has a flowing consistency. Once creamy, leave it covered on the kitchen counter or refrigerate for atleast 5-6 hours.

Once it completely chilled take an ice cream scoop of 1'' diameter or a tablespoon. Scoop out the chilled ganache and roll it into a ball.

Dip this in melted chocolate and leave it as is or decorate/roll it with nuts,coconut,cocoa powder, sprinkles anything you like and place them on a tray covered with parchment paper . Get creative!!

Refrigerate these fudgy balls just until they are firm .Enjoy!!

A few Tips

• You can definitely add Fruit fillings, Caramel/Toffee sauce, Liqueur, Candied Fruits, Nuts, Coffee, Rice Crisps, Jelly ,what ever you want.
• You can add coffee to the cream when you put it on the stove. Coffee just enhances the flavor of chocolate.
• You can cover the truffles in white chocolate too.
• To dip the rolled truffles in chocolate, you could use a toothpick. Insert the toothpick in the ball and dip in the chocolate and coat them with the decorations and remove the toothpick. This is a no mess trick.
• You could even use lollipop sticks to hold the ''TrufflePops'' !!
• You can make the ganache with white chocolate and ratio being 1:3 . Roll the fudge with a roasted almond inside and coat it with white chocolate and cover it with coconut. You will love it!!!!
• As suggested, you can go crazy decorating them with all the decorations mentioned above. So they are ready for a party as well.

• You can refrigerate them upto a 1 week in an airtight container.

Sorry I couldn't post all the pictures of the fillings and decorations I had made, as they get over in no time and leaves me with no images. But as they say- there's always a next time!

Do try them and leave me a comment!