Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Simple Steps To Make Chocolate Truffles

By Breanna Lee

Most chocolate truffles are manufactured in factories and some are loaded with so much sugar, it is hardly good for you. Some of those cheaper, waxy chocolates do not even contain as much cocoa as it's suppose to have which renders it not as good as dark chocolate is supposed to be. So, if you are a chocolate lover and wants to get some great health benefits from it, you could try making your own wonderfully delicious chocolate truffles.

Making chocolate truffles is pretty easy as some of these do not even require too much cooking time or baking skills. As long as you learn not to burn the chocolate, you will soon be cranking out chocolate truffles like a pro! If you are worried about messing up and turning it into burnt bitter hunks, then you should read on for the tips I have in making some simple and easy chocolate truffles that are way better than store-bought ones.

Before setting out to make chocolate truffles, the first things you need to do is to stock up on the essential ingredients. The most important one is of course, the chocolate. I'd recommend dark baking chocolate that has high cocoa content of 70% and above. We want high cocoa content because only chocolates with high cocoa content are of better quality, richer and has more anti-oxidants that are also good for you. But if you don't really like the slight bitter taste of dark chocolate, you can also choose to get milk chocolate with a lower cocoa content.

Other than chocolate, you may also want to get other ingredients to add some special flavors to your truffles such as nuts and dried fruits. Nuts like almonds, peanuts, macadamia or even cashew are fun additions that will add a crunch to your truffles. Other than that, you can also get other decorative food items such as colorful chocolate rice to dip your truffles in so that it is more interesting looking.

The very first thing to do is to break or chop the chocolate into smaller pieces. The put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Add in butter and then place the bowl over a simmering pan of water. Be careful to ensure the bottom of the bowl do not touch the boiling water. Using a wooden spoon, stir the chocolate butter mixture until it is thoroughly melted. If you like cheese, you can also get some cream cheese on hand so that you can add it in later.

When the chocolate butter mixture is melted into soft, silky brown liquid, remove it from the pan and leave aside to cool down. You can then add the cream cheese, the nuts, dried fruits or whatever you want to add to your truffles. Use a mixer to blend it all together until it is all well combined. You want to make sure that the whole mixture are evenly combined so that there won't be concentrations of nuts or chocolate or clumps of cream cheese. Lastly, you just pour the thick mixture onto a pan and leave it to cool for awhile. If it is very thick, use an ice cream scoop or a spoon to form small balls out of it. Dip the chocolate balls on the chocolate rice or some cocoa powder. Then put the balls on wax-paper lined trays. Place the trays of chocolate truffles in the fridge to firm up and there you have it, you very own delicious chocolate truffles!

About the Author:

No comments: