Silky smooth chocolate ganache truffles

On Friday, to celebrate Fair Trade Fortnight, I gave away some of these truffles at the Fair Trade Fair at Uni. Of course I was also pimpin The Potluck Club. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon, and I had an awesome time meeting old and new friends! The compliments were pretty sweet too, although mostly they consisted of surprised mmm noises. People came back for them (after leaving the building!), and asked for the recipe (which I was only too happy to provide!). To share all this gloriousness, I will share the recipe here too. It’s super easy, but it does require a bit of idle time. The best way to prevent yourself from eating the truffle mixture is to do the mixture before going to bed, and roll them in the morning.

Chocolate ganache truffles

adapted from Irina’s awesome and fully illustrated recipe

• 300ml whipping cream (or pure coconut cream apparently to make these vegan – just omit the butter)
• 20g butter (preferably unsalted)
• 600g dark chocolate (I used Trade Aid’s), chopped smallish*
• optional: 25g or about 2Tbs sugar

*The truffles will still be softish (like fondant icing, but not all sandy), so if you want them more solid, just use more chocolate

Heat cream, butter and sugar on medium heat in a saucepan until it just comes to a simmer.* Whisk occasionally to help the sugar dissolve, if using. Remove from heat, pour in chocolate, and let sit for a few minutes.

Whisk in circular motions towards the centre, trying not to beat air into the mixture but mixing vigorously enough to make the cream and chocolate mix to form a smooth, glossy mixture.

Refrigerate until the consistency is like a very thick icing – this will take a few hours.

Once the mixture is solid enough to be scoopable, grab a metal teaspoon and scoop out chunks of the mixture, and roll slightly with your hands. If you don’t want to get those hands dirty, you could also try piping them. They don’t have to look perfect. Immediately drop them into a cup filled with one of your coatings (rough ideas below), coating the truffle in a generous layer (especially if it’s cocoa!). Set aside on a paper lined baking tray. Once your tray is full, refrigerate. Don’t let the truffles touch if they are not dusted with cocoa.

*Try not to walk away as the cream can go from sentient to furiously bubbly quickly, and it’s not fun to clean up!

Truffle coating ideas

Cocoa based

• Cinnamon – Use half icing sugar and half cocoa, with a very small amount of cinnamon – you don’t want it to overpower. Sift together before using as a coating
• Chilli – Use half icing sugar and half cocoa, with a very small amount of chilli – you don’t want it to overpower. Sift together before using as a coating
• Cardamon – Use half icing sugar and half cocoa, with a very small amount of cardamon – you don’t want it to overpower. Sift together before using as a coating

Keep in mind that after a few hours the truffles will absorb some of the cocoa, so if you want them totally dusted, you will need to dust them again just before serving.

Grated chocolate

• White, milk or dark

Ground nuts

• Pulse almonds, pistachios, or toasted hazelnuts with a bit of caster or icing sugar to prevent the mixture from forming a paste.

Chocolate

• Melt dark, white or milk chocolate on a very low heat (or in a metal/ceramic bowl sitting above a simmering pot of water). Sit melted chocolate in warm-hot water when dipping truffles.
• Add a few drops of essence to the chocolate to flavour if you wish – vanilla, nut based (be very sparing with almond essence), orange, peppermint

Coconut

• Just use fine dessicated stuff

 These recipes were also entered into Trade Aid’s recipe competition. Every entry gets free Trade Aid chocolate, yay! Submit your recipes if you have them, but remember to do it before the end of May :)