Bittersweet Chocolate Truffle Recipe for a Happy Valentine's Day!

It is Valentine's Day and I have a gift for you....Chocolate Truffles! Well, maybe I cannot give them to you directly, but at the very least I can share the recipe.  If you do not have Valrhona chocolate, just use any good quality bittersweet chocolate in the 60% to 70% range.

Bittersweet Valrhona Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients:
16 oz (1 lb) Valrhona Bittersweet Dark Chocolate (66% Caraibe)
3/4 cup whipping cream

Put 8 ounces of the chocolate into a bowl. Place the cream in a sauce pan.  On the stove top, bring the cream just to a boil and immediately pour 1/2 the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until it starts to emulsify.  Then pour the remaining cream over the chocolate and continue stirring slowly. Do not lift the spoon off the bottom of the bowl and stir in just one direction to prevent bubbles from forming.  Stir until completely mixed and all chocolate is melted.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rest on counter over night  (or for 6 hours until set).  Place in refrigerator for two hours to harden so you can form balls from the truffles. 

Once chilled, take out of refrigerator and scoop out one spoonful of truffle at a time and roll between the palm of your hands to form a ball.  If your hands are warm, wearing rubber gloves will help prevent the chocolate from melting. I will leave it up to you to decide how big to make these truffles! Place truffle balls on cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap and place back in fridge while you prepare the chocolate for dipping.

If you are comfortable tempering chocolate, then use our own method with a double boiler or marble slab.  Otherwise, follow these directions for easy tempering:

Melt the other 8 ounces of chocolate in a microwavable DRY heatproof bowl for 2 minutes on MEDIUM Power (50%).  Take out of microwave and stir until completely melted.  Feel the chocolate with the back of your baby finger - if it is the same temperature as your finger it is ready.  If too cold, warm for just five seconds in the microwave.  If too warm, continue stirring until it cools, lifting the spoon high in the air to cool the chocolate as you stir. Ensure no water drops or moisture get into the chocolate.

Take truffle balls out of the fridge and using a fork, dip the truffles in the chocolate one-by-one and roll around.  Lift out with fork and place on wax paper to cool and set. (You can also toss these while chocolate coating is wet into a bowl of cocoa powder and roll around for a cocoa-y outer layer. Lift out of cocoa powder with fork and let set on wax paper).

Once set, place in mini cupcake papers for a pretty display. You can also freeze these in an airtight container and pull out when you are ready to consume. Can be consumed at room temperature or out of the fridge (best at room temperature).  It should make two dozen, but it depends on the size of your truffles!  Make as big or small as you like.

Happy Valentine's Day!