I know, those who know me well are saying "What's new?".
But I started thinking about Christmas the other day. Five months to go and I'm already starting to get into holiday mode. So since we're in a new neighborhood, I started to think about neighbor gifts. Now my wife is the master baker and candy maker. She has great recipes for Christmas cookies, popcorn balls, etc. If I ask really nice, she'll let me post those recipes in December. But I wanted to add something of my own. So I started to search for some truffle recipes on the web and found Alton Brown's Chocolate Truffle recipe. In case you don't know who he is, he's a chef on the Food Network with a show called Good Eats. He doesn't just tell you what the recipe is, he explains the science behind it. I've used his frying technique to perfect my Stuffed Chicken Parmesan which my wife sampled while we were dating, and said to me later that after trying that meal, she knew she would marry me one day. So I obviously hold him in great regard.
Anyway, I used his recipe that is posted on the Food Network website, but I changed it up a little. I tried making it 'as is' but substituting out the brandy for raspberry liqueur. They came out a little squishy, even when the centers were chilled. So I removed it and added the half cup of peanut butter and it solidified nicely. Now I used dark chocolate for the centers, but you could use bittersweet, or semisweet, or even milk chocolate instead. I'm also trying a few other the variations of the recipe, testing out a different raspberry truffle, as well as coconut, orange, mint, and rum. As I get the recipes locked down, I'll post them, hopefully by Christmas so you could use them too.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles
Makes roughly 32
Truffle Centers
12 ounces bittersweet, dark,semi-sweet or milk chocolate (according to your taste), chopped fine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter
Outer coating - options include
16 ounces of dark,semi-sweet or milk chocolate (according to your taste)
10 ounces dutch processed cocoa
2 cups crushed peanuts
2 ounces white chocolate chips
Slowly melt the butter in a saucepan over medium low heat. Dump the chocolate into the saucepan and stir until all the chocolate and butter is melted. Next slowly pour in some of the cream and mix until it's incorporated. Keep repeating until all of the cream is included. Pour in the corn syrup, then drop in the peanut butter. Continually stir again until the peanut butter is blended into the mixture. Once it's all melted, remove it from the heat and pour the contents of the pan into a brownie pan (8x8) and chill in the fridge for an hour or two.
Once the truffle mix is chilled, remove it from the fridge. Using a melon baller, scoop out some of the mixture and then form the little balls of goodness. You can use your hands to form them, but it gets messy. If you have kids, this can be a lot of fun for them... But if you want to stay clean, or if you're a very warm blooded person like me and chocolate instantly melts in your hand, use latex gloves.
When you're ready to coat them you have a number of choices.
If you want to go the easy way, just warm the coating chocolate up in a pan until it's melted, coat the truffle with the new chocolate and let set for about 15 seconds. Take the truffle and roll it in the dutch chocolate or peanuts and place it on the wax paper again. Chill for an hour in the fridge and eat as many as you can handle.
Now you can go fancier if you'd like... For that, the base should be a shell of tempered chocolate. Tempering chocolate means taking it to a higher temperature to melt all of the cocoa solids, then taking it back down to a magical temperature where it coats the truffle perfectly. It makes a smooth, shiny shell that allows you to decorate them later. You want to warm the chocolate up to around 110 degrees, and then let it cool down to between 88 and 93 degrees and keep it there.
If you want to attempt to temper the chocolate, melt the dipping chocolate in a saucepan over medium low heat and check the temperature with a digital thermometer. As soon as it gets to 110+ degrees, pour the chocolate out of the pan and into another container. Stir it, trying to mix in a little air to cool it down. Check the temperature regularly and as soon as you hit 93 degrees, you can start dipping the truffles. You will want to keep the dipping chocolate between 88 and 93 degrees, since the chilled truffles will cool the chocolate as you dip. So wrap the container holding the dipping chocolate with a heating pad and check the temperature often. Don't let the temperature go over 94 degrees, or you'll have to heat it over 110 again and let it cool back down. If the chocolate gets too cool, you can heat it back to 88-93 again as soon as you can, but the exterior may not be as shiny unless you go through the heating process again.
To get that very smooth exterior, I've found stabbing the centers with a bamboo skewer to dip them works best. Dip the chocolate center and roll it around until it's complete covered. Place the truffle back on the wax paper cookie sheet and use another skewer to push against the truffle until the first skewer slides out. Repeat with the others, but make sure that dipping chocolate stays between 88-93 degrees. Once all are coated, place them back in the fridge for an hour.
If you want to pipe designs on the top of them, melt white chocolate (or any other type of chocolate) in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir the chocolate and microwave again for another 30 seconds until it's melted. The pour the contents into the piping bag and decorate them any way you wish.
I cheated on the one in the picture and placed a white chocolate chip on the top. I poured hot water into a glass, then rubbed the bottom of the chip against the warm glass just long enough to melt it, then stuck it on top.
Feel free to coat them, roll them in candy, nuts, coconut, pipe designs, whatever you want to fit your taste. Remember, it's not wrong if you like it!
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