Cooking For Engineers

[Dilbert]

(no chocolatier here but in the event real expertise takes a minute to drop by...)

the spots can happen when chocolate is refrigerated. it is not going bad and is perfectly safe - strictly a cosmetic issue.

shelf life on truffles is in the weeks category.

I do know that candy making - including chocolate - is a demanding art form in terms of proper ratios / ingredients / fat content / temperatures - so off handed substitutions may not work out.

[Michael Chu]

[MB]

If I'm going to make the truffles using milk chocolate, do I need to adjust the amount of cream used?

I've made them with dark chocolate and they were delicious! Great recipe and great site!

Many thanks.

[Guest]

yes please, I'd like to know about the milk chocolate also. My sisters prefer milk or semi sweet chocolate over dark chocolate, will the recipe change any at all with milk or semi sweet choc? Also, the "cocoa" dusting, is that unsweetened cocoa?

Thanks, I can't wait to get started on these, they sounds so delish!

[Michael Chu]

[kathleen]

hi,

i had some problems making my ganache. when i used semi-sweet chocolate, everything worked out fine. when i used dark chocolate, i had separation and graininess and it was not smooth at all. i found this site which has some very useful information about working with chocolate, and talks about how to prevent the problems i had:

http://acselementsofchocolate.typepad.com/elements_of_chocolate/Chocolate.html

they suggest pouring the chopped chocolate into the cream (after letting it cool for a minute), instead of pouring the cream into the chocolate. i haven't tried it yet (since i already wasted enough nice dark chocolate today), but it sounds like it makes sense and would be worth doing.

[KRB]

Help!! In making my truffle ganache, I used bittersweet chocolate. After mixing the cream in I find it too bitter, even for me and with a white chocolate shell. Is there any way to sweeten it without making it granular? Thanks. I really appreciate your great instructions.

[Amanda]

About sweetening the bittersweet truffles:

If I were in the same situation as you, then what I would do would be make a batch of milk chocolate ganache suitable for truffle making (there is a recipe above), melt down the bittersweet ganache in the microwave in 30 second increments, and then incorporate the milk chocolate ganache into the bittersweet ganache, refreeze and then continue as planned.

I have made truffles several times and have always found that truffles are a surprisingly forgiving medium. I have never tried this technique but if for you the bittersweet truffles are unsalveagable on their own, I would give it a shot.

Alternatively, you could try the Viennese whipping technique as listed above.

I've made bittersweet, semi sweet and milk chocolate truffles for my family and the milk chocolate ones are always the most popular but dusted in powdered sugar, the children in my household are quite happy with bittersweet truffles.

[Zach]

I've been making these 2-4 times a year for a couple years now. I think I've finally hit on the best way to make everything go smoothly.

First, getting the chocolate into even pieces is the hardest part. Cutting it with a serrated knife gets the most even results, but I find it sometimes takes too long to melt the larger pieces in. What I use is a cheese grater as an impromptu chocolate shaver. I have one that fits onto a container, so all the chocolate is mostly contained there. The bars I buy are 113g, so I normally have to shave 4 of them.

Second, scalding the cream can often turn bad for me if I heat it directly. Instead I use a quart jar in a pan of water. For half batches I use a jelly jar or a pyrex cup. I heat this over med-low heat until the cream reaches 90 or 95c. Sometimes I add herbs for flavor and simmer this for an hour or so (thanks to the guest who suggested that, they're great!)

When I'm ready to combine the cream and chocolate, I remove the cream from the water bath, turn off the heat under the water, put my chocolate into a pyrex bowl, place the chocolate bowl into the water, and pour the cream. Wait 4 minutes and stir until smooth.

The water bath ensures that the chocolate will melt, and the residual heat of the water keeps it from setting before it's consistently mixed. It's normally 1-2 minutes between turning off the stove and putting the chocolate on the water, so I'm not sure if it's had time to cool significantly.

I just put my latest batch into the fridge to cool, after coming back here yet again to refresh myself on the process. This time I thought I'd offer my own modifications in the hope that someone will find them useful. Thanks for the great recipe.

[KRB]

Thanks Amanda. Will try one of these methods.... probably the whipping trick. Since no one likes the milk chocolate, I don't even have any.

Here's another question, which may sound strange. Is there such a thing as a savory truffle? Some of my friends are diabetic and others just don't eat sugar. I would love to treat them to something they would like that is still similar to the truffles I am giving to others. Anyone have any ideas?? I told my chiropractor I was going to come up with a carrot ganache wrapped in spinach

[MH]

After struggling with the idea that cutting out dairy from my diet meant I would never be able to buy truffles again, I decided to experiment with your recipe. I replaced the cream with 1/2 cup Earth Balance Spread (non-hydrogenated margarine) and 1/2 cup Vanilla Soymilk. I used Semi-sweet chocolate chips because I had them on hand. The only troubles I had were that (1) I had to put the bowl in a pot of hot water on the stove to get all the chocolate to melt, and (2) it took like 3 hours in the fridge to set up. I stuffed the truffles with dried wild blueberries and dusted them in cocoa. They are perfect. My husband claims they are the best he's had.

Next time I am going to try replacing 1/2 the soymilk with espresso for a mocha version.

[truffle_maker]

Hello,
I have been making truffles but sometimes I note that when I mix cream and chocolate, there are lumps in the chocolate. On the double boiler there is curdling of the chocolate which leads to the oil coming out and the texture is not smooth and velvety. I am using semi sweet Selbourne chocolate. I have not been able to isolate the cause and hope that I will get some help.

Thx

[Michael Chu]

[truffle_maker]

Thank you for your suggestions. I wil try them out. Also please let me know if the liquer used in chocolates ie rum and brandy are the normal variety used for drinking or is it something special for chocolates and how much should be used.

Thanks once again.

[newbie?]

hi, i'm planning to make truffles for the first time and i wanted to make more than just 30 of them. would the result come out the same if i just doubled the recipe?