Truffles?

Sarah loves chocolate. On the same episode of 5 ingredient Fix: Dessert Bar that somehow inspired us to make meringue, they also made truffles. Generally, I don't care for desserts and I also don't like to watch people making dessert on TV. Specifically, I don't like watching episodes about candy-making. It usually involves things that I just don't have in my kitchen, like a candy thermometer, a copper mixing bowl, or heavy cream. But, like with the meringue, they made a dessert that I've always thought was quite complicated but looked quite easy to make. And so we made truffles.

Truffles Recipe:

1. Ganache: In a double boiler, melt equal parts dark chocolate (60% cacao or greater). We used 12 ounces of chocolate and 12 ounces of heavy cream. Once melted, add scalded heavy cream. And mix. In our house, we always have dark chocolate. We had to make a point to buy heavy cream.

2. Chill: After the chocolate and cream were mixed together, it made a wonderfully silky and intoxicatingly dark sauce. We were supposed to cover with plastic wrap and chill it in the fridge, but before we did, we dipped some of our merangues from the night before. It was a great idea. But you have to eat them pretty soon after the chocolate sets, though. The tips of the meringue under the chocolate began to dissolve into a marshmellowy mush after being left to cool for a couple hours.

3. Scoop: It took a surprisingly long time for the chocolate to harden enough for it to look scoopable. After a couple hours, we were tired and decided to go to bed. The next night, after dinner, we pulled the chocolate and began scooping with a 2t scoop. We didn't have a 2t scoop like they used on TV. So we went out and bought one. Don't worry if the scoops are irregular. It will work itself out later.

4. Chill again: After all the chocolate was scooped out on to 2 mini sheet trays lined with parchment paper, put it back into the fridge to chill again. We waited for an hour.

5. Get your toppings ready: Truffles are traditionally covered in something that makes them look dirt covered, like chocolate powder. We put some in a little bowl. I also took some Girl Scout shortbread cookies and ground them up into a fine powder. That went into a second bowl.

6. Roll and Roll: Work with 1 sheet at a time. Take a mound of the chilled ganache and roll it between the palms of your hands, as if you're making play dough balls. This was a curious experience and pleasant in a tactile way. For some reason, when rolling the chocolate between my palms, the truffles would take on a cube-like shape. I don't know what that says about my anatomy.
Eventually, the chocolate will smooth out and start to melt due to the heat in your hands. It happens very quickly, but it's a necessary part of making the toppings stick to the thing. Put the beginning-to-melt ball into one of the topping bowls and roll the ball around in the bowl until it's covered. Put back on the sheet tray.

7. Chill a third time: You may want to chill the truffles a third time, as rolling the truffles pus a lot of heat into the chocolate. Or, you can do what we did and just start eating them.

For some reason, I was a little bit underwhelmed by this dessert. On the one hand, we had made these amazing little balls of wonderful, smooth, chocolatey richness. They were great. But the chocolate powder we used was gross for some reason. And the girl scout short bread cookie topping just wasn't strong enough to stand up to the flavor density of the chocolate. It's weird, the truffles are actually quite good. But as wonderful as they are, the fact that there is something noticeably missing from them makes the experience fall flat.

We only prepped one of the two trays. The other tray, we froze before rolling. I think I am going to try picking up some walnuts or peanuts and using that as a topping. The truffles need something really salty and something really crunchy. Or, they need to have booze in them. Or maybe I will just have booze with them. I think I may need to dig out my martini shaker.