Rich and Silky Dark Chocolate Truffles

Inspired Edibles turns One Today!

This time last year, a friend of mine had just shared a melt-in-your-mouth apple muffin from a Martha Stewart recipe – I loved the flavour and unique presentation so much that I came home and starting playing around with it – you know, messing with the recipe the way foodies do. Anyway, on this occasion, I was pretty happy with the result (remember the recently featured Apple Buttermilk muffins? Those would be the ones - revisited).  The rest, as they say, is a small piece of history.

Over the past year, Inspired Edibles has been very fortunate to greet over 90,000 visitors (overall clicks to the site) with its most frequent guests coming from Canada, the United States, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.  Other familiar visitors include Australia, Germany and France with occasional visits from Russia, China, the Ukraine, Vietnam, the Maldives, Japan, Singapore and the Philippines – (as well as many others). 

It's been an incredibly fun year and I want to thank each and every one of you for sharing this adventure with me and for your kind and continued support. 

What can you expect from Inspired Edibles in year two?  Well, in addition to more junk food (ha!), a detailed index is in the works along with proper recipe printing capacity (yay!). As always, I remain open to your comments and feedback.

You’ve been patient, so let’s move forward...

Those of you who follow my blog know that I have a deep affection for chocolate (I have never kept this a secret).  With this in mind, I thought it only fitting to whip up something a little special with my favourite antioxidant rich confection – these truffles are surprisingly easy to prepare and so impressive... you can dazzle your loved ones with these homemade delights on Valentine's day ~ or any day!

----------------------

coconut, plain dark chocolate and chopped peanut

with peanut butter infused ganache truffles

Rich and Silky Dark Chocolate Truffles

Truffles are made from a ganache base - a simple combination of heated cream and chocolate (which I have further simplified).

For the Basic Ganache

200 grams (7 ounces) of 75% cocoa chocolate, chopped

1 cup whipping cream (35%)

1/8 tsp coarse salt

In a sturdy pot set to medium heat, bring cream just a boil.  Remove from heat and add chocolate and salt to pot but do not stir.

Let the chocolate sit with the cream and salt for 5 minutes undisturbed before whisking.  If you stir the ingredients too soon, the chocolate will cool too quickly and you will end up with grainy ganache rather than a silky, smooth ganache.

Once the 5 minutes have elapsed, whisk the ingredients together gently until the chocolate has fully melted and the mixture appears smooth and shiny (a thing of beauty). 

Place chocolate mixture in the fridge for approximately 2 hours or until it has hardened sufficiently to be rolled into truffles (but not too hard to manipulate).

 

Remove chocolate from fridge and spoon out like-size pieces of chocolate (a melon baller or spoon will do the trick) rolling them in the palm of your hand into little balls.  You can return the chocolate to the fridge at any time if you feel that it is getting too soft.

Once you have rolled your chocolate into little balls, you’re ready for your toppings. 

Topping Ideas

Coconut shavings

Chopped Nuts or Seeds (almond, peanut, hazelnut, flaxseed, chia, etc.)

Cocoa
Chopped dried fruit (cranberry, papaya, apricot, etc.)

Spread desired toppings out on a flat dish and simply roll chocolate truffles in mixture to coat, pressing into chocolate gently if necessary for fruit, etc.

Place truffles in a decorative miniature cup (you can find candy/chocolate cups at kitchen stores and bulk stores) and place truffles in a small box if you wish to present as a gift.

This recipe will make about 16-20 truffles.

Variations

Alcohol - If you wish, you can add 2 Tbsp of rum, brandy, cognac or triple sec to the cream at the beginning of the recipe described above for an alcohol-infused truffle.

Peanut Butter infused Ganache - To make the peanut butter infused chocolate, add 3/4 cup of smooth natural peanut butter to the ganache immediately after whisking the cream and chocolate together.  Be sure to integrate the peanut butter little by little, whisking as you go, to fully combine.  Refrigerate mixture as described above before rolling your peanut butter truffles and covering them in chopped peanuts, as desired.  You could also use almond butter or any other nut/seed butter of your choice.

This variation will create about 22-24 truffles.