Chocolate Truffles

Having seen all kinds of truffles popping out in the recent mooncake market, like champagne choco truffles, rum and raisin..etc...I was tempted to be 'creative' and make my own truffles and add them into mooncakes as well. Anyway, I dropped the idea later as I only have red bean paste and don't think red bean would pair well with chocolate. So, i made the truffles for consumption alone and was pretty satisfied with the results :) Yummy! I can now make my own 'Rocher". When i gave some to my friend, she was asking me what is truffles? Well, I replied her that i just know that it is a kind of chocolate, and most often made by your ownself. Hehe very lame right. A net search for its meaning defined it as a group of chocolate confectionary, traditionally made with a chocolate ganache center coated in chocolate or cocoa powder, usually in a spherical, conical or curved shape. Nowadays, other fillings such as nuts, caramel or melted chocolate may replace the ganache (Source: Wikipedia). They are named for their resemblance to the truffle fungus. There are 3 main types of chocolate truffles. This method is the swiss truffles method. For more info, you can refer to the link.

I got the recipe from Sweet Indulgences and made some modifications myself.

Ingredients:

• 55g of milk chocolate
• 35g of dark chocolate
• 80 ml of heavy cream
• 15g of almond meal (ground almond) - original recipe called for ground hazelnut
• 1 1/2 tbsp of butter
• Hazelnuts/whole almonds toasted (optional)

Method:

1. Melt chocolate over double boiler and set aside.
2. Heat cream till simmer.Stir cream into melted chocolate and stir in widening concentric circles.
3. Add butter, stirring gently.
4. Add ground almond and stir gently.
5. Pour into a pan and refrigerate for about 2-3 hrs.
6. Toast some hazelnuts (about 20)
7. Use a melon scoop to scoop moulds of ganache and wrap it over 1 hazelnut - note: Be sure to let the nuts cool before wrapping otherwise the ganache will melt and turn soft
8. Dust with cocoa powder or chopped peanuts before popping back into the refrigerator

Makes about 18 truffles

Note: For more variations, you can coat it with melted chocolate or white chocolate before dusting it for additional chocolate layer

Must be consumed within a few days