Truffles

I never imagined I’d say this, but I think I might be sick of chocolate. Well, more appropriately, I think I am sick from chocolate. Somewhere between the peppermint bark, my trip to Vosges, the nibbling on my coworker’s pretzel/chocolate bites, the licking of bowls of melted chocolate and the abundance of Hershey kisses, caramel toffee, and white chocolate chips in my house (and tummy), I thought it would be a good idea to sample the truffles I made tonight. Oy. They were good, but I think they put me over the top. I am in a major cocoa-coma. Hopefully I snap out of it. You know, in time to eat more chocolate.

So, back to my holiday tins. The other chocolate part of them (and thankfully, the tins only have two chocolate components so that tomorrow I may write a post about how I am sick on confectioner’s sugar and/or honey and walnuts) is truffles. This is actually the first time I’ve made truffles. They are really easy, though they can be somewhat time consuming if you make a lot, which thankfully, I didn’t.

I perused our liquor cabinet to see what we had available and the Bailey’s stared back at me. I was going to make one larger batch of all Bailey’s truffles, but decided to just make a half batch and flavor the other half with raspberry liqueur and jam.

Irish Cream Truffles
makes about 20 truffles

1/4 lb. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 lb. semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp. Bailey’s
crushed chocolate coated espresso or coffee beans, for rolling
Put the chopped chocolate in a stainless steel bowl and set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the butter and heavy cream to just boiling and then turn off. Pour the mixture through a sieve onto the chopped chocolate. Gently whisk together the chocolate and cream mixture until the chocolate is melted. Stir in the Bailey’s. Refrigerate the mixture for an hour or longer, until firm.

Using a small cookie scoop, make equal sized truffles. Roll them in your hands, to make them round. Roll into the crushed chocolate covered coffee beans.

Chocolate Raspberry Truffles
makes about 20 truffles

1/2 lb. dark chocolate, chopped
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp. (I’d probably use 3 next time) raspberry liqueur, like framboise
3 Tbsp. seedless raspberry jam
dutch-processed or unsweetened cocoa powder, for rolling
Put the chopped chocolate in a stainless steel bowl and set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the butter and heavy cream to just boiling and then turn off. Pour the mixture through a sieve onto the chopped chocolate. Gently whisk together the chocolate and cream mixture until the chocolate is melted. Stir in the Framboise and seedless jam. Refrigerate the mixture for an hour or longer, until firm.

Using a small cookie scoop, make equal sized truffles. Roll them in your hands, to make them round. Roll into the cocoa powder.