A Simple Recipe for Chocolate Truffles with Sea Salt

Yesterday I was trying to come up with a ganache recipe to fill some tarts shells and what I came up with was a semi-sweet chocolate ganache with sea salt. It tasted so fantastic and it was thick enough to be easily rolled into truffles, so I thought I'd share the recipe here on my blog.

My first batch was made with Camino's 56% Semi-Sweet Organic & Fair Trade Couverture and it was incredibly good. I then made a batch with a Lindt Swiss Dark Chocolate bar and that had similar results, but with a slight vanilla flavour (Camino's chocolate has no vanilla in it, but Lindt's does).  You can buy the 300 gram Lindt bar at most grocery stores in the U.S. or Canada or, if you are in Canada and looking for Fair Trade and Organic chocolate, you can substitute the Camino professional line of couverture chocolate with Camino's 56% baking chocolate or Camino's 55% Dark chocolate bar, which is available at many Canadian grocery and health food stores, or online.

Here is my recipe:

Salted Dark Chocolate Truffles:

You need:

President's Choice was my
 choice of fine sea salt for this recipe.

• 8 oz semi-sweet dark chocolate with 50% to 60% cacao solids (see above for chocolate brand suggestions or see below for truffle recipe using the Lindt Excellence Sea Salt chocolate bar)
• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 1 tsp fine sea salt (if you just want a hint of salt, use 1/2 - 3/4 tsp sea salt, for a bold, salty flavour use the full 1 teaspoon)
• 1 tsp coarse sea salt (for decorating only)
• For finishing: 8 ounces of semi-sweet (50%-60%) or bittersweet (70%) dark chocolate for rolling OR cocoa powder

Instructions:

Step 1: If chocolate is not already in pellets or drops, chop it into 1/2-inch to 1-inch sized pieces and place in a heatproof bowl (preferable if the bowl is also microwavable in case you have trouble melting the chocolate).

Step 2: Heat the cream in a small saucepan on the stove until it reaches the boiling point.

Step 3: Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir slowly with a wooden spoon until smooth (if it does not melt fully, microwave for 5 second intervals if it is in a microwave-safe bowl. If you are using a stainless steel bowl rather than glass or plastic, place over a double boiler and stir until melted. Add the 1 tsp of fine seat salt and stir until it is fully mixed in.

Step 4: Let set on counter overnight or for 8 hours. Then refrigerate for 1 hour in order to make it stiff enough to roll into balls.

Step 5: Once set, take a small spoon and scoop out small spoonfuls of truffle mix.  Roll between the palm of your hands to make balls.  Place each truffle ball on a piece of wax paper.

Step 6: Roll in cocoa powder or melt & temper another 8 oz of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate and dip truffles using a fork.  Place on a new sheet of wax paper. Place a few pieces of the coarse sea salt on top while still liquid. Let cool and harden.  Then eat!


Alternate Recipe using a Lindt Excellence Sea Salt chocolate bar:
1. Break up three (3) Lindt Excellence Sea Salt dark chocolate bars into 1-inch pieces.  Place in a bowl. 
2. Heat 3/4 cup cream on stove until it reaches boiling point.
3. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir slowly with a wooden spoon until smooth (if it does not melt fully, microwave for 5 second intervals if it is in a microwave-safe bowl).
4. Let set on counter overnight or for 8 hours.  Refrigerate for 1 hour in order to make it stiff enough to roll into balls.
5. Follow remaining steps listed above.