Chocolate Truffles

Chocolate truffles are heaven in your mouth! Chocolate truffles are a ball of heavenly cocoa covered ganache shaped sphere of chocolate. The outside may look like dirt covered Chocolate truffles which are famed culinary fungi but don not let the looks deceive you, they are delicious!!! The chocolate truffles recipe makes it easy for you to be the hit of any party. The preparation and chilling time for the chocolate truffles may take 30 minutes tops. You can have family fun time with your children while creating the ultimate holiday treat. It may be a little messy but the end results will be so worth it.

The traditional chocolate truffle is a ganache; however, some have substituted nougats, caramel, or even nuts.  When other ingredients are substituted for the ganache, they are generally coated with a thin layer of hard chocolate. The chocolate truffles in the recipe below are the traditional chocolate truffles with ganache.

When creating the ganache you will need to mix cream and chocolate. The center of the chocolate truffles can be a hard ganache by using less cream and more chocolate. According to the recipe if you use a two to one ration of chocolate to cream the ganache will become thick enough to create the most delicious chocolate truffles you have ever tasted.

Ingredients you will need to make a ganache is at least one pound of dark chocolate (make sure the chocolate is a flavor that you prefer) and one cup of heavy whipping cream.

The chocolate will need to be cut by a serrated knife and cut into strips so the chocolate will break into small pieces. Make sure when you start the task of cutting up the chocolate for your chocolate truffles you put a cutting board or bowl under the chocolate because it will scatter as you cut. Once through with cutting the pound of chocolate into little pieces put the chocolate in a bowl that can withstand heat.

Put a small pan on the burner and pour the heavy whipping cream into the pan and bring it to a boil. (Be careful because you could burn yourself) Once the heavy whipping cream comes to a boil remove it from the burner and pour it in the bowl with the chocolate and let sit for at least five minutes. After the five minutes is up, stir the mixture until all lumps are gone, the mixture must be smooth. DO NOT MIX THE CHOCOLATE WITH LIQUIDS CONTAINING WATER. The chocolate does not mix well and it will clump. The ganache is simply a mixture of chocolate and cream and with the small amount of cream added the chocolate will not clump like it will with liquids with a lot of water. Let the mixture cool at room temperature. Once cooled, you can then create the ganache into little or medium spheres.

If there are clumps still in the mixture heat a bowl of water, set the bowl of mixture over the heated water, and stir until smooth. 

Make sure you let the ganache chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. This cool down period will make the ganache harden and make it easier to put the ganache into a ball shape. Once you form the ganache into a ball shape put them in the refrigerator for 15 minutes then roll in cocoa powder.

All done! Enjoy your scrumptious Chocolate truffles!