Whipped Ganache Truffles

I recently made a huge batch of truffles. A week before, I had made some whipped ganache frosting for a cake and when there was a little bit left over, I stuck it in the refrigerator. On a whim, I thought I would try using the whipped ganache to make a few truffle centers. Holy moly! Those little whipped ganache truffles were so good! The texture was so ethereal and light, creamy and smooth. When served at room temperature, as all truffles should be, the filling instantly coats your tongue the moment you break into the middle.

I was worried that the whipped ganache centers would be a lot more difficult to work with, but they're really not. You basically follow the same recipe and steps as with making regular truffle centers, but in this case you simply beat the ganache after it has thickened slightly in the refrigerator. You're looking for it to be near the consistency of room temperature cream cheese before beating it with a paddle attachment (or regular beaters) until it is fluffy and smooth. The color will lighten from the addition of air. Like when whipping cream, be careful not to over beat the mixture. Refrigerate the ganache thoroughly before using a small disher to scoop out consistent amounts, just like you would for regular truffle centers. Because it comes to room temperature more quickly, you will want to stick the scooped portions back in the refrigerator for a few minutes before rolling them into nicely shaped balls.

Because you really have to dip these truffles initially while they are cold, you absolutely must plan on dipping them more than once. After dipping the first time, let them come to room temperature before dipping a second time. This will make sure you don't end up with a cracked final shell as the truffles warm up and swell.

You can still flavor them just like regular truffles; mint, however, is absolutely divine in this application! And, guess what? Technically, you could call these "reduced calorie" truffles because when you whip the ganache, it increases in volume, thus reducing the number of calories compared to a similar sized scoop of unwhipped ganache!

Candied Orange Twists

As usual, in the run up to Christmas, I made huge amounts of food to give away as gifts. I made breads, candies, pancake mix, jellies, cookies, and... truffles! I love making truffles. I don't make them super often, because they are a bit of work (although as I do it more, it becomes quicker and more efficient). I originally posted about making truffles in the first few months of this blog. You can check out the "Making Chocolates" posts here.

As you might imagine, I rarely am satisfied leaving well enough alone. I always figure I can make something tastier, cheaper, easier, or prettier. In this case, I was going for the latter. Whenever I make truffles, I make more than one kind. Because I am not a fan of the whole stick a tooth in it to figure out what's inside technique, I like to decorate my truffles in a way that I can give my recipients a key describing what's what. For my usual Grand Marnier truffles, I decided to try and make cute little candied orange twists. They were a smashing success. Not only were they easy to make, but they look like a million bucks and taste great too.

You can make the candied orange peel in advance and keep them, untwisted, in syrup for quite some time. As such, I made a fair amount and am simply keeping the left overs in the pantry. Using a zester, get a bunch of zest strips from a couple of washed oranges. Try to keep the strips at least 2-3 inches long. They're very challenging to knot when they get too short.

In a sauce pan, mix one cup of sugar, two cups of water, and 2 tablespoons of corn syrup or glucose (or a similar ratio of the three). This last bit is critical if you want to be able to store the twists for any length of time. Without the corn syrup or glucose, undesirable crystallization can occur and make your life very difficult. Simmer the zest on medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until the zest is tender and translucent. I just keep tasting until it gets to where I like it; it usually takes an hour or two. Cool the mixture completely. If storing, keep the twists submerged in the syrup and store in an air tight container in a cool, dark place.

When you are ready to make the twists, get out a piece of parchment or wax paper and simply tie them loosely into knots. A single loop is plenty and the twists are sticky enough to stay wherever you put them. Let them dry slightly so that they don't ooze syrup all over your pretty truffles.

When you are ready to apply them to the truffles, use a small brush to dab a little bit of melted chocolate onto the top of the truffle and then place the twist in the middle of that blob. Once the chocolate hardens, the twist will be an integral part of a beautiful confection. And the shiny, citrus packed twist not only adds a delicious punch to a tasty treat, but is a gorgeous way to distinguish it from the other flavors you've concocted! In this tin: Grand Marnier, hazelnut, coffee, mint, and plain.

A few more thoughts on tempering...

In the first few months after starting this blog, I posted a whole series on making chocolates. In my Tempering Chocolate 101 post, I discussed the technique involved in making sure your chocolate cools in the right crystalline form. Improper crystallization results in the development of an unappealing fat "bloom" in the final product. The amount of bloom shown here is excessive, and is the amount I typically see - for instance - with the chocolate that is leftover after dipping truffles that gets collected and thrown in the back of the pantry for eight months. It also can happen with a chocolate bar that is left in a car on a hot day and then eaten a week later. While it doesn't look appropriate when making chocolate confections, I do think it's pretty in its own, strange way. It may have something to do with my geology background regarding the crystallization of minerals, but I find fat bloom in chocolate fascinating.

Unfortunately, it's not very fascinating when it happens to the results of my hard work. I try very hard to be sure my chocolate is in temper before I dip a batch of truffles. I made a batch the other day for the first time in a while. I tried some new things; I tried to perfect some old things. In the end, I decided I had a few additional thoughts to add regarding tempering:

• Tempering is a pain in the butt. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. So I often catch myself pushing the envelope of what I deem acceptable when testing whether my chocolate is in temper. Tempering is a pain, but it's even more of a pain when you jump the gun and coat a bunch of truffles with chocolate that dries with horrible looking streaks, or - even worse - won't properly harden at all. In the end, it's always better to be safe than sorry. If you have to go through the procedure again to ensure a good temper, do it!
• I have found that I don't usually have great luck getting proper temper using the seed method (see my other post for a refresher). It's been three times in a row now of tempering chocolate when I try to do the seed method first, am not satisfied, and then go through the longer but very straight-forward seed-free method. In the future, I may just start with that method. Again, it takes longer, but you can be doing other things for the vast majority of the time.
• Although I described a series of things to look for to determine the level of temper in your chocolate, the frustrating thing is that you often can't be totally sure you got it right until the next day. Sometimes, it all looks right, but by the next day, those darn streaks have shown up! The moral here is that I never make truffles the same day or day before I expect to give them away. I like to be able to make sure that fat bloom doesn't show up after the fact!
• In my previous post, I only discussed dark chocolate. If you want to use milk chocolate or white chocolate, you still have to temper them, but they require slightly lower temperatures. As a guideline, use temperatures 2-3 degrees less than what you use for dark chocolate. Speaking of white chocolate... it's pretty darn hard to find real white chocolate these days. Virtually all white chips sold in stores today are not chocolate at all. You have to look closely. If it doesn't actually say "white chocolate" and have cocoa butter in the ingredient list, you are using a totally different beast. White "chips", such as Ghirardelli or Nestle, do not need to be tempered (but they don't really taste that good either). Real white chocolate must be tempered to ensure proper set up, gloss, and shininess. Baker's brand white chocolate blocks are the only real white chocolate I've seen around in a long, long time.
• Remember that chocolate can build up heat very rapidly. Be sure to heat it slowly. If you get impatient and crank the heat up too much, there will be too much residual heat and even once you remove the chocolate from the heat source, chances are it will continue heating another 5-10 degrees. So go slow and easy. Patience is key.
• Lastly, you really do get what you pay for. The cost of chocolate is typically proportional to how pure it is. Cheap brands have more sugar and other fillers in them and can be more challenging to work with. Most confectioneries use couverture when dipping truffles because it has more cocoa butter and is easier to work with and has a nicer mouth feel. Unfortunately, it's really expensive. I've had very good luck using Ghirardelli's 60% cacao chips and find it to be a nice middle ground compromise.

Peanut Butter Cups

This will be the last of the chocolate postings in this batch. I have to admit that I was not completely satisfied with the way my peanut butter cups came out. Oh, don't get me wrong, they're good. But they're not great and certainly not perfect. I'll post what I did and throw out my thoughts on what I plan on doing differently next time. I'll update this post next time I make them, but I'm kind of chocolated out right now and don't expect that to be for a little while.

Peanut Butter Cups

tempered chocolate
small waxed fluted paper cups

4 TBS shortening
2/3 cups peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla

Cream shortening and peanut butter together. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and whip together until slightly fluffy.

Using a pastry brush, coat the inside of the paper cups with tempered chocolate. You do not need to brush all the way up the sides. Put cups in refrigerator to harden. Meanwhile, spoon peanut butter filling into a pastry bag with a medium sized plain-hole tip. When cups are firmed up, squeeze a nice blob of filling in the middle. Then, using a spoon, pour tempered chocolate into the cup to fill it up. I found that it works best if you do not fill the cup all the way to the top.

That's it! Now here are the complaints about my results. I was a little disappointed in the filling because it was too creamy and not peanuty enough. Next time, I will try using real peanut butter (Jif, which I used this time, has too many extra ingredients, I think) and will add more powdered sugar to stiffen it up a bit. With these changes, I think they'll be pretty darn good!

Haystacks

These may just be the easiest chocolates ever to make! If you're doing a bunch of chocolates, making the haystacks last is a great way to use up whatever chocolate is left in the bottom of your bowl. While they are so easy to make (just chocolate and shredded coconut), there are just a few things to consider to make the best haystacks possible:

1. While you won't notice poorly tempered chocolate as much in haystacks as in other chocolates, you still want to use properly tempered chocolate for the best results.
2. I much prefer using unsweetened coconut for making haystacks. If you can find it, I strongly recommend going this route.
3. Toasting the coconut before dredging it in chocolate is an absolute must!! I just put it in a dry saute pan over medium heat and stir periodically until it has a nice light tan color.
4. Be sure to let your coconut cool completely before adding it to your chocolate. If the coconut is too warm, it can ruin the temper of your chocolate.
5. Use two spoons to shovel small blobs of chocolate covered coconut onto a parchment lined sheet pan. Refrigerate to harden. They can then be stored at room temperature.

Turtles

The most serendipitous thing happened while I was making these turtles. When I've made turtles before, I was disappointed with the caramel because it was always too soft. So when making them this time, I searched out a recipe that I thought would give me something a little more firm. I decided on the "Caramels" recipe in my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. I figured if it made something that could be cut and wrapped in individual wrappers, it could certainly stand up to holding together some pecans and chocolate.

Well, I'm not sure if I screwed up or what, but the result was not good. Maybe my candy thermometer is off. I followed the recipe to a T and that caramel came out hard as a rock. Literally. I broke it in to pieces with a hammer. I was a little miffed and didn't really feel like making a new batch of caramel. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I thought I would try to salvage my disaster.

I broke off a handful of pieces and put them in a sauce pan. I turned the heat on medium low and let it slowly melt. Once it was fluid again, I added a dollop of heavy cream to thin it out a little bit. I then put a little sample in the refrigerator and let it set for five minutes. It came out just how I wanted it. It was soft and chewy but firm enough to not move around on its own. The great thing about this is that I now have a bunch of rock hard caramel in my pantry that is ready to use at the drop of a hat. It will keep forever, I imagine (it's like storing lollipops at this point). I kind of like that.

All right. So the turtles. They're pretty simple. The caramel is the tricky part and I've got that licked now. I'm a bit of an untraditional turtle maker, however. I prefer every bite of my turtle to be an even mixture of chocolate, caramel, and pecans. Therefore, my turtles have no legs or head or tail. I mold them in small 3 1/4 oz. plastic ramekins. I drop lightly toasted pecans in the bottom, pour a generous dollop of caramel in, and then top with tempered chocolate.

Once they are cool, they pop right out of the little dishes and they nestle perfectly in a standard sized muffin cup paper. I also like to make baby turtles where I lay two pecans side by side on a parchment lined tray and then follow the same procedure. I like being able to pop the whole thing in my mouth all at once.

Caramel for Candies

1 cup butter
2 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups light cream
1 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

heavy whipping cream

Prepare a 8x8x2ish sized pan by lining with foil and spraying with cooking spray. Put butter, sugar, cream, and corn syrup in a heavy 3 quart sauce pan outfitted with a candy thermometer. Cook over medium-high heat until candy thermometer hits 248 degrees F. Note that since I'm not really 100% sure why my batch went awry, you may want to test your caramel by dropping a bit in a glass of water to be sure it will set up hard when cool. If it doesn't, let it go a few more degrees. It took my mixture approximately 30 minutes to reach this point. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, and immediately pour into prepared pan. Let cool completely.

When caramel is cooled, remove from pan and peel off aluminum foil. Break into pieces either by dropping on the counter or tapping with a meat mallet. Store in an air tight container at room temperature until ready to make candy.

When ready to make candy, slowly melt desired amount of hard caramel over low heat. Once it is fluid, stir in heavy whipping cream until it is the consistency you are looking for. Check for how the caramel will behave when cooled by putting a small bit in the refrigerator for five minutes. Add more cream or hard caramel to adjust. Use immediately.

Truffles, Part 2: Dipping the Centers

I think that it is so funny how you can do something so many times and suddenly, you figure out a whole new way to do it that is awesome. I have never made such perfect truffles before! They had always turned out fine. You know, they were homemade. But I always had problems dipping the truffles and having them turn out properly because I am too cheap to buy the expensive chocolate used by the pros for dipping. Couverture is used for dipping because it is more fluid at dipping tempertures. Well, I'm sorry; I'm not going to use it! It's hard to come by and it's darn pricey. So I always make do with Ghiradelli's chocolate, which tastes great but is a little thick for dipping. I used to always end up with really thick coatings and puddles around the bottom of the truffle as they cooled.

So what was that new thing I figured out? Hand rolling the truffles completely negates the problems of using a less fluid chocolate for coating your centers. I had read about hand rolling, but somehow never got the right mojo going for it. Now I can't believe it took me so long to figure out. It's so easy! Here's how it works:

Dipping the Centers

Temper about a third again as much chocolate as you think you will need to coat your centers using the procedure shown in my Tempering Chocolate 101 post. Prepare to hold the chocolate at the working temperature of 87-92 degrees with a heating pad (see tempering post for details).

Have all your centers sitting at room temperature. If you are dipping loose centers, then have them just cold enough to hold together. Using my "rolling" method, you will need to dip the truffles twice. But if the chocolate is properly tempered, you should be able to do a second dip within 10-15 minutes. A second dip will cover any cracks that develop or places where the first dip was too thin and filling came squirting out (see picture). The filling comes out through thin spots because the warm chocolate coating heats the filling enough to expand slightly. Just knock the tail off and proceed with your second dip.

I've outlined the rolling procedure in the video below. However, a couple of items to note. You want each coating of chocolate to be relatively thin. This keeps a large "foot" from forming on the bottom of the truffle, which can be unappealing. On your second dip, you will want to try to have the same edge down as before so that your finished truffle doesn't have a funny flat spot on it. Lastly, when I roll the truffles off of my hand, I am careful to have the last spot my fingers touch be on the top of the truffle. This seems to give the best finished appearance. Look for how I do this in the video.

The only other important thing to mention is that if you are making multiple flavors, you need to think about how to differentiate them. You can top truffles with all sorts of things. Melt some white chocolate or make royal icing in any color to make designs. Sprinkle with candy toppings (you'll probably need a helper to do this as the sprinkles need to be applied before the coating hardens). Be imaginative - the sky's the limit here!

Truffles are shelf stable and can remain fresh unrefrigerated for about a month provided they are kept from overheating. If you want to store them longer, they can be refrigerated or frozen. Thaw frozen truffles in the refrigerator. Let all refrigerated truffles come to room temperature before eating.

Tempering Chocolate 101

I have added a second post on tempering which includes some additional thought and tips. You can click here to go to that post.

Tempering chocolate can be tricky. Even the pros don't get it right all the time. And those special chocolate tempering machines can still mess up from time to time. But it must be done! If not, chocolate can have some very unappealing characteristics, like the streaks seen in the photo here. It's still fine to eat, but it doesn't look as nice. If chocolate is really out of temper, it can become very chalky.

Why is this a problem? It has to do with the chemical properties of cocoa butter. Cocoa butter can form six different types of crystals, depending on how the chocolate cools. Unfortunately, only one of these six types has appealing characteristics for chocolate candies. The trick is to follow a procedure which allows only the most desirable crystalline structure to form.

How do we do that? Well, there are a couple of methods. The easiest - if you are starting with chocolate that has a good temper - is called the "seed" method. If the chocolate you are using is glossy and firm, snaps nicely, and does not have any streaks in it, you can use this method. If not, you will have to use the "seed-free" method I've outlined below.

"Seed" Method of Tempering

In a double boiler (same set up as for making ganache), place about 2/3 of the chocolate that you want to temper. Reserve the remaining third for later. Melt the chocolate slowly and use a thermometer to make sure you always know where you're at. Melt the chocolate until it reaches 105-110 degrees F. Remove from heat (be careful not to get any moisture in your chocolate from the condensed steam on the bottom of the bowl).

Keeping a careful eye on the thermometer, add about half of the reserved chocolate. Stir slowly but continuously, adding little bits of the remaining chocolate as it melts in. Stop adding any more chocolate when the temperature gets to 100 degrees or it may not melt. It's hard to work with when it's all lumpy! Continue stirring until the chocolate gets down to 87-92 degrees. Do NOT let it fall below 85 degrees or go over 95 degrees otherwise you will have to start all over.

Test your temper by smearing a bit of chocolate on a piece of wax paper. Put it in the fridge for about 2 minutes. Take it out and look at it. Is it shiny? Is it streak free? Does it break with a nice, clean snap? Does it refrain from immediately melting when you touch it with your finger? If the answer to all of these questions is "yes," your chocolate is good to go. If not, restart the process (you can use the same chocolate). If you do not have any more seed chocolate, use the "seed free" tempering method listed below.

Keep the chocolate within this 87-92 degree range while working with it. Stir regularly to keep the crystals in the chocolate from getting too large. To hold the temperature while I am working with the chocolate, I nest two bowls with a heating pad in between (see picture). My heating pad set on high is just right for keeping it at about 90 degrees. Be sure to have a towel to protect your heating pad from chocolate drips.

Let the finished chocolates harden either in a cool room or in the refrigerator.

"Seed-Free" Method of Tempering

This method is very similar to the one above, but instead of adding "seed" chocolate, you are simply using temperature control to provide seed crystals.

Heat all of the chocolate you want to temper in a double boiler. Heat it up to 115 degrees F. This melts all six of the cocoa butter crystal forms. Remove from heat, stir periodically while cooling down to 80 degrees. When chocolate reaches 80 degrees, give it a good stir and then return to the heat (I only need the heating pad here) and bring up to the working temperature range of 87-92 degrees.

Truffles, Part 1: Ganache Centers

All right, folks. Here we go. Once you see how easy it is to make your own delectable chocolate truffles you will never stoop to paying $30 a pound ever again! Now, I won't sugar coat it. Making truffles is labor intensive. I only make them once or twice a year typically. But I also usually make huge amounts when I do. If you just want to make one small batch (especially of only one flavor) then it isn't too bad at all.

So where do we start? In the center! The ganache filling is the easiest part of making truffles. Truffle centers are the creamy, smooth, rich part of the deal and they get that way with a lot of heavy cream. Because there is a lot of fat in the ganache from the cream, you don't have to worry about tempering the chocolate, which is the trickiest part of truffle making.

Truffle Filling - Ganache
Yield: about 30 truffle centers

8 oz high quality semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1-2 TBS liquor (optional)

Prepare a simple double boiler by adding 1 inch of water in the bottom of a sauce pan and setting a glass bowl over it (see picture for the set-up I use). Turn heat on to medium. When the water starts to simmer, be sure to turn it down. You want it to simmer, not boil, when melting the chocolate.

Measure the chocolate on a scale. I'm not usually a huge fan of weighing my ingredients, but because chocolate comes in all kinds of shapes making it hard to get a consistent measurement, a scale is best. Put chocolate in the bowl of the double boiler. Stir periodically to help it melt evenly. BEWARE: chocolate has an arch-enemy! Be very careful to never get any water or moisture in your chocolate or it could seize up into a ball and never recover.

Meanwhile, heat up the cream in a pan on the stove or in the microwave. You want to just bring it to a boil (bubbles around the edge, not a full on bubble fest). Set aside to cool. You do not want to add it to the chocolate until it is below 120 degrees F.

When the chocolate is mostly melted, remove from the double boiler. Pour the cream through a small sieve and into the chocolate. The sieve is important because as the cream cools, it will form a skim that you do not want in your ganache. Stir until completely incorporated. If adding flavoring, do so now. I would start with a tablespoon and then add until it tastes the way you want it. You want the liquor to impart a subtle flavor, not jump in your face. Place a cover of plastic wrap onto the surface of the ganache and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

Once the ganache has chilled, it is time to shape the centers. There are many ways to do this. I use a #100 disher (holds about 2 tsp) and scoop ganache onto a parchment lined sheet tray. I scoop them all out and just let them fall willy-nilly. Once they are all scooped, I put on disposable vinyl gloves (find them in the first aid aisle - they are much cheaper than latex and won't leave your hands smelling funny). The gloves will help to keep your hands clean, but they also help form an insulating barrier between the chocolate and your hot little hands. If your hands are like ice cubes, I wouldn't worry about wearing gloves. Then I pick each one up and roll it around until it is spherical. Return balls to the tray and keep in the refrigerator until you are ready to dip the centers in their chocolate bath.

A note about making multiple flavors: when you have finished making the chocolate/cream mixture, pour the ganache into the same number of bowls as flavors you are planning. You shouldn't try to do more than two flavorings per recipe quantity. I actually multiply the recipe by as many flavors as I want to end up with. For instance, I wanted to end up with 4 flavors, so I melted 2 lbs of chocolate and added 2 cups of cream. I then poured the ganache into four bowls and added 1-2 TBS of flavoring to each. This method is a lot easier than making a batch of ganache separately for each flavor. If I am working with multiple flavors, I always keep little sticky notes around so I can keep track of which batch is which.

Good liquors to use for flavoring: Bailey's Irish Cream, Kahluah, Grand Marnier, Amaretto, Creme de Menthe... try your favorite!

Next we meet, we'll talk about tempering!