Truffles are ready for their closeup!

This is just a quick post to let you know how the second round of truffle making went. I made four different flavors and used the full Martha Stewart truffle recipe for each, so I had about 42 (small) truffles of each flavor. I finished them up on Sunday. and they are now packaged and ready to be hand-delivered to my family and friends for Christmas.

The Fourth Mystery Flavor
If you've been following the last three posts, you know I wasn't a huge fan of the plain truffle covered in cocoa. So, finding a fourth flavor was the major dilemma this round. I finally caved to D's preferences and made a Jack Daniels truffle coated in chopped pecans. Our tribute to the South is actually delicious (can you hear the banjo strummin')! I used 3 tablespoons of whiskey to cover a full recipe and it tastes potent but not rum ball icky. You can always add a tablespoon and then taste it to see how much whiskey flavor you like.

A Better Mint Truffle
The second issue was creating a better mint truffle. Since using mint leaves made the truffles taste too leafy and green, I opted for peppermint oil. Just a tablespoon flavored them very well. I put a few candy canes in the food processor and used this to roll them in. They taste like Andes to me, minty and lovely!

The Final Four Truffle Flavors 
Ancho chile and cinnamon coated in sugar crystals
Jack Daniels coated in pecans
Cardamom and coffee coated in almonds
Peppermint coated in crushed candy cane

I packaged them in these adorable mini-Chinese take-out boxes from the Container store and wrapped them in hot pink ribbon with cutie-pie white and green dots. The truffles plus D's ridiculously yummy take on Irish Cream (Jack Daniels, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, heavy cream, and sweetened condensed milk), and some homemade granola are all getting placed in a neon green bag and wrapped in hot pink tissue (can you tell neon green and hot pink are this year's Christmas colors?) to finish off the homemade gift. Phew! Now to packing!

I couldn't resist taking a photo of the little truffle army. Er, marching band, it is Christmastime after all.

 Happy Holiday!

Truffle Experiment Take 1

Why is it every recipe involving chocolate requires math skills? I am testing out Martha Stewart's truffle recipe, which came highly recommended, for a work holiday party and subsequent giving during Christmas. Shhhh, it's a secret.

Martha Stewart's Best Chocolate Truffle Recipe

8 oz best-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 c heavy cream

1 T liqueur

Unsweetened cocoa powder for rolling

Put chocolate into a large heatproof bowl. Bring cream just to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; pour over chocolate in bowl. Stir in liqueur, if desired. Cover with plastic wrap; let stand 10 minutes. Stir until smooth. Let stand until thick, about 15 minutes.Pour chocolate mixture into a shallow 8-inch dish or pie plate. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until mixture is very cold and set but still pliable, about 30 minutes.Using a teaspoon or a 1/2-inch melon baller, scoop balls of chocolate mixture, transferring them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper as you work. Refrigerate truffles 10 minutes.Using hands dusted with cocoa powder, dip each truffle in cocoa powder to coat, then quickly shape truffle into a rough round. Refrigerate truffles in an airtight container until ready to serve, up to 2 weeks; before serving, reshape into rounds, and roll each truffle in cocoa powder, if desired.

I'm going to alter her recipe to fit my devilish desires of interestingly flavored chocolate. This is the part I'm not sure will come off. But first, the math test:

I went to Fairway and bought a few Maragda 70% cacao chocolate bars. There are two bars in each package. Each bar has 12 squares, so 24 squares in a package. The two bars combined (one package) weigh .88 lb. If I'm doubling the recipe and need a full pound (or 16 oz) of chocolate, how many squares should I be cutting up?

Look, I even showed my work: 24 squares = .88 lb

.88 lb x 16 oz = 14.08 oz

14.08 oz / 24 squares = .58 oz per square

16 oz in a lb / .58 oz per square = 27.58 squares to make up 16 oz of chocolate

Now, to further complicate things, I want to try out 3 flavors and leave one control truffle plain (minus the liqueur which I generally don't like). So, in order to get the right proportions, I'm going to cut up each batch of chocolate separately. 27.58 squares / 4 batches = 6.89 squares per batch. Phew!

I'm going to try and flavor the 1/4 c heavy cream in each of the four batches with something interesting (minus the control truffle) or a liqueur like creme de menthe. I even read one reviewer who melted down Andes and formed them into truffles.

Mint

I've gleaned that a bunch of mint leaves in the hot cream should do the trick. You could also use mint extract or creme de menthe. I read a comment on Cooking for Engineers that someone melted down Andes, which sounds great to me. D thinks the fresh mint won't be enough to make the chocolate minty, but that's why this is an experiment.

Ancho Chile and Cinnamon

I have dried ancho chiles and cinnamon sticks to heat in the cream.

Cardamom and Coffee

We love the cardamom coffee at Hampton Chutney Co. So, we thought a couple tsp of instant coffee plus cardamom pods would work well.

Now, on to the experiment!