By Joell Folger
Chocolate, hailed as food of the gods, thankfully today it is food for everyone. With origins in Mayan and Aztec cultures, this food has endured through the ages for a reason. I hesitate to start a list as it might go on and on. The Mayans drank it while referring to it as ‘chocolhaa’, meaning bitter water. The Aztecs ate it and called it ‘xocolat’. Between these names and varied uses of the cocoa plant, the modern word is formed, chocolate. Truly the sweetest word in any language.
As far back as I can remember, I have always loved chocolate. I truly believe that I am a better person when I eat chocolate. Why, yes, I do eat some every day. Even if it is as simple as a handful of semi-sweet mini chips alone, with almonds, mixed with granola clusters, peanut butter and pretzels. A chocoholic with no desire to change my chocolate ways.
Valentine’s Day is just a few short days away. The association between chocolate and Valentine's day is about as inseparable as its history. When thinking of a decadent chocolate treat for the guys, chocolate truffles came to mind. Although relatively simple to make, they are a labor of love with the investment of time and attention to details.
After scouring several recipes, I finally settled on this one from Sally’s Baking Addiction. Her recipe was clean, straight forward however it included special touches that are pantry staples. She added about a tablespoon of butter and a teaspoon of vanilla. Makes sense, everything's better with a little butter. Actually, the butter brings in extra creaminess and firmness once the chocolate is set and chilled. I chose semi-sweet organic baking chocolate that was 56% cacao. Any more and it would have been too dark for this batch. https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/homemade-chocolate-truffles/
Once all of my ingredients were in place, I got to chopping the chocolate. I reached for my comfortable, but shorter santoku knife. The small knife chopped the chocolate, but with a lot of effort and the chunks were large. I knew this was not going to work for the second chocolate bar. Stepping out of my knife comfort zone, to the larger knife I went. This was a wise choice as it was the proper tool for the job. I was able to get better leverage with the longer blade to pretty much shave the chocolate bar. The smaller the chocolate pieces, the better it melts with the heat of the hot cream.
If you have followed some of my kitchen adventures, just wait, the fork in the recipe is coming, times two. Gratefully, these two kinks were handled and the truffles were an overall success. They were also totally avoidable.
The first was the chunky chocolate pieces. The smaller the chocolate pieces, the faster the melting time. The second one was my own impatience. The call for the oh so satisfying experience of the stirring process was way too much for me, I started too soon. My excitement over the swirling chocolate and cream was soon put on hold as I had to solve the chunky lumps challenge. My first attempt was residual heat from the burner. I have a gas stove and the cast iron grate was still warm from heating the milk. It helped, however, it was not quite hot enough, so begrudgingly I put the bowl in the microwave for 10 seconds. Then I let it rest. That helped. I was able to get the chocolate smooth and glossy. Time to chill the chocolate for at least two hours.
For my truffle coatings, I went with valentine sprinkles, white balls and classic jimmies (sprinkles are colorful, jimmies are brown). Time to scoop the chocolate to roll into magic bites of pure chocolate delight. The most successful way for this batch was to scrape off layers using a metal TBSP measuring spoon and a toothpick to help nudge it out. The heat of your hands warms the chocolate enough to form nice round bites that take to the coatings well.
I will no doubt be making these on repeat. Changes I would make is to practice patience, to use the proper tool and wait for the heat to work its magic. For coatings, I will try some in plain cocoa powder and will not use the white sprinkles/balls again. Some of the chocolate on my fingers got onto the white sprinkles setting off a bit of ocd in my mind. I did use the toothpick, still got some chocolate spots. Ridiculous, absolutely, but I’m perfectly fine with having tried the white and now moving on to the next batch.
I have no hope of the truffles making it to Valentine’s Day, or even to the weekend for that matter. They were a lot of fun to make. Not only did I get to enjoy eating them, but I also got to enjoy the sights, aromas and flavors of crafting them. The fact that the guys like them too is the icing on the cake, or in this case the coating on the truffle.
