Foodie Friday! - Dark Chocolate Truffles

I have wanted to make truffles for a long time. I always thought they would be too hard and time consuming to make.  This last weekend I decided I was finally going to try making them.  So I headed to the store to get all things chocolately.  I was amazed that the recipe called for such few items.

So here's the truffle recipe I used.

Salivate away.

Dark Chocolate Truffles

1/4 cup heavy cream

5 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli chips)

1 T. butter

1/2 bag Nestle Dark Chocolate Chips (for dipping)

Bring heavy cream to just  boiling in a sauce pan.  Remove from heat and stir in chocolate with a spatula.  (Using a whisk incorporates air, so use a spatula.)  Once the chocolate is melted and smooth, stir in the butter until melted.

Pour ganache into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap - making sure the plastic wrap is touching the entire surface of the ganache.  Refrigerate several hours, or overnight

To form the truffles, use a melon baller to scoop the ganache into a ball and place on a wax paper-lined baking sheet.  

Finish the truffles by dipping in your ingredient of choice.  If dipping in chocolate, place the balls of ganache in the refrigerator or freeze for at least one hour (I froze overnight) until thoroughly chilled before dipping.

I dipped in dark chocolate.  I attempted to drizzle with white chocolate chips but they did not melt into a consistency that made for easy drizzling, so I skipped the pretty drizzle look and will tackle that another time.  

Thanks to BrownEyedBaker for sharing this recipe.  If you are interested in trying truffles, check out their blog as they list helpful truffle hints.

These were much easier to make than I thought they would be.  I didn't have a melon baller and my small cookie scoop didn't work so I made them by hand - messy but it worked!

The bittersweet chocolate chips were cheaper than a baking bar, and I didn't have to bother with cutting or shaving the chocolate.  

I also doubled the recipe and got about 30 truffles.  The full bag of dark chocolate chips was just enough for dipping a double batch.  Use the chocolate of your choice or any other truffle coating that sounds good to you.

One thing I learned - I took them to a Bible Study to share and I had been storing them in Tupperware, but they were uncovered for about 2 hours and this did dry them out quite a bit.  

Happy Friday!