Handmade Dark Chocolate Truffles
Velvety dark chocolate ganache truffles hand-rolled in cocoa, sea salt, and crushed espresso — named after the prized fungus they resemble, invented in France, and still one of the most luxurious two bites in confectionery.
- 12 ozdark chocolate(70% cacao, finely chopped)
- 1 cupheavy cream
- 2 tbspbutter(softened)
- 1 tbspliqueur(Grand Marnier, Chambord, or Kahlúa)
- 0.5 cupunsweetened cocoa powder(for coating)
- 0.25 cupcrushed espresso beans(for coating)
- 2 tbspflaky sea salt(for coating)
- 0.25 cupcrushed pistachios(for coating)
Truffles keep refrigerated up to 2 weeks. Bring to room temperature before serving for best texture. Uncoated truffles can be frozen up to 2 months.
- 1Place chopped chocolate in heat-proof bowl
- 2Heat cream until just simmering
- 3Pour hot cream over chocolate and let stand 2 minutes
- 4Stir gently from center until smooth and glossy
- 5Stir in butter and liqueur
- 6Cover and refrigerate 2 hours until firm enough to scoop
- 7Using melon baller or spoon, scoop ganache and roll into 1-inch balls
- 8Work quickly - ganache softens from hand heat
- 9Place coatings in separate shallow dishes
- 10Roll truffles in coating of choice
- 11Refrigerate in single layer until serving
- 12Bring to room temperature 15 minutes before serving
Use the best chocolate you can afford - it's the star. Don't let any water get into the ganache or it will seize. Cold hands help when rolling. Wearing gloves prevents fingerprints. Different coatings add variety - offer an assortment.
The chocolate truffle was born in France, though exactly when and by whose hands is still debated. The most commonly cited story dates the creation to Christmas Day, 1895, in Chambray in central France, where pâtissier Louis Dufour, running short of ideas for holiday confections, blended chocolate with cream to make ganache, shaped it into rough balls, dipped them in melted chocolate, and rolled the result in cocoa powder. The treat was so successful that Dufour's relative Antoine brought the recipe to London in 1902 when he founded Prestat Chocolates — still trading today. A second and equally persistent origin story places the invention in the kitchen of Auguste Escoffier, the most celebrated French chef of the early 20th century, sometime in the 1920s. According to this account, one of his apprentices accidentally poured hot cream into a bowl of chopped chocolate rather than the eggs and sugar beside it. Escoffier, furious, shouted "ganache!" — a French insult meaning fool or imbecile — and the name stuck for the chocolate-cream emulsion the mistake produced. Once cooled and rolled in cocoa powder, the spheres bore an unmistakable resemblance to Périgord black truffles, the most prized and expensive fungi in French cuisine, and the name was borrowed from the forest floor. At first, only the wealthy could afford them. The first published truffle recipe appeared in 1920s American confectionery guide Rigby's Reliable Candy Teacher. Today their ganache centres come in every flavour imaginable, but the fundamental formula — chocolate, cream, and cocoa — has not changed.