Handmade chocolate truffles are one of my favorite things to make. They can be made in truffle molds, which is a bit more difficult, or they can be hand rolled. If you are using truffle molds, your chocolate needs to be perfectly tempered. You can color the truffles by painting the molds with cocoa butter colors and they come out shiny and beautiful. I don’t have any mold as home though, so I will show you how to make hand rolled truffles, which is a bit easier. They will taste just the same, but will have a more rustic look.
STRAWBERRY GANACHE
- 16 oz White Chocolate (4 cups)
- 3 oz Heavy Cream (1/3 cup)
- 3 ea Strawberries, sliced
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1-2 drops Food Coloring, optional
CHOCOLATE COATING
- 10 oz Dark Chocolate (2 1/2 cups)
- 1 cup Coarse Sugar, optional
When making chocolate truffles, it is very important to use high quality chocolate. My favorite chocolate brand to use is Valhrona. It can be found at specialty stores or you can order it on Amazon.com by searching Valhrona Chocolate. You can also use Ghirardelli chocolate from the grocery store, but I wouldn’t recommend using Hershey’s or Tollhouse for truffles.
- The first step in making chocolate truffles is to make the ganache filling. For these truffles, I am making a strawberry white chocolate ganache. Measure out your heavy cream and put it in a small saucepan with the sliced strawberries. Heat the mixure on low-medium heat until the heavy cream starts to bubble on the sides of the pan. Be sure to stir frequently and smash the strawberries a little to get the most flavor out of them.
- While you are steeping the strawberries in your heavy cream, you can melt the white chocolate. You can either melt it in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time. Stir after each 30 seconds. Or you can melt it over a double boiler on the stove.
- Once your heavy cream has a nice strawberry flavor and has turned a pale pink color, you can take it off the heat. The next step is to strain the heavy cream into the melted chocolate. You may want to use a whisk to stir the heavy cream and chocolate until well combined.
- Next, add the salt, vanilla, and food coloring if you choose to use it. Mix the ganache until well combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let cool. The ganache will harden as it cools. You can speed up the process by placing the bowl in the refrigerator.
- Once your ganache has set up, it’s time to scoop it into small balls. You can use a small scoop (which would be the easier and less messy choice), or you can just use a teaspoon. Scoop the ganache onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Now roll the ganache in your hand to create a smooth, round ball. If it get’s to soft place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for a few minutes.
- Once all of your ganache has been rolled into truffle balls, we can melt the chocolate for the outside coating and get your coarse sugar ready. The best way to do this is to temper your chocolate, which will make it harden more quickly and have a shinier finish. However, this takes some time and a bit of practice, so for this demonstration we will just melt the chocolate and use the freezer to help harden the coating more quickly. Again, you can either melt the chocolate in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, or use a double boiler.
- The next step is to actually coat the ganache in dark chocolate. This process is pretty messy, so you might want to use gloves. Dip your fingers in the melted chocolate, and pick up one of your ganache balls. Roll the ganache ball in the melted dark chocolate in your hands, to lightly coat the ganache. Then place the coated ganache ball back on your baking sheet.
- Set the baking sheet in the freezer for a few minutes, to let that coating of chocolate harden. Once it has hardened, repeat the process again, to add a second coating of chocolate to the truffles. Make sure you have your sugar ready at this point if you plan on using it.
- While the second coating of chocolate is still soft, sprinkle the truffles with the coarse sugar you have chosen to use. For these truffles, I mixed pink and red sugar. You could also use cocoa powder to coat the outside, or just leave them plain.
- Set the truffles back in the freezer for a few minutes to harden. Then plate and serve them! Enjoy!
