Chocolate Truffles

First of all, do not confuse chocolate truffles with the obscenely expensive fungus used in fine cuisines. You may think that chocolate truffles are fungi covered in chocolate, but you’re wrong. Truffles, the chocolate ones, are a combination of chocolate and heavy cream covered with tempered chocolate. Tempered chocolate is a chocolate that has been melted at a certain temperature, cooled down to a specific temperature and is then melted again. Just like their namesake, chocolate truffle is a symbol of luxurious satisfaction of the palate.

Chocolate truffles are easy to make and makes a wonderful romantic gift to someone you truly care about. Basically, the ganache (the mixture of melted chocolate and heavy cream) is molded into balls and is dipped into the tempered chocolate. This makes a hard outer layer for your truffle that gives it that crunchy feeling every time you take a bite. Although making truffles sounds simple enough, the difficult part is preparing tempered chocolate, which is quite delicate. There are various ways to present truffles. Some flavor it with rum, vanilla, ginger or citrus fruits like lemon. Some cover their truffles with cocoa powder, powdered sugar or nuts.