A well-emulsified dark chocolate ganache, rolled into balls and tossed in cocoa: thirty melting truffles, to give as gifts or serve with coffee.
Chocolate truffles are the end-of-meal treat of the holidays: a ball of ganache that melts on the tongue, in a slightly bitter cocoa coat. You make them the day before, they keep for a week, and in a pretty box they're the best-loved homemade gift.
It all comes down to the ganache: good dark chocolate, full-fat cream, and stirring from the center outwards to get a smooth, glossy emulsion, like a mayonnaise. The butter goes in afterwards, once the ganache is warm, for a melting texture. No professional equipment needed, just a little patience while it chills.
Chop the chocolate finely, into pieces the size of a grain of rice, and put it in the bowl. The smaller the pieces, the faster and more evenly they melt when the cream goes in.
In the saucepan, heat the cream with the honey until it just starts to simmer: small bubbles around the edge, not a rolling boil. Take it off the heat straight away.
Pour the cream over the chocolate in three goes. After the first third, wait 30 seconds, then stir with the spatula in small circles in the center of the bowl: the ganache first looks split, then turns smooth and elastic in the middle. Add the second third, stirring in wider circles, then the last. It should be glossy and coat the spatula.
Let the ganache cool to about 35 to 40 °C (95 to 104 °F), warm on your lip, which takes about 5 minutes. Then add the soft butter in small pieces and stir gently until it has completely disappeared.
Cover the ganache with cling film pressed onto the surface (otherwise a skin forms) and let it set for 1 hour at room temperature, then 2 hours in the fridge. It's ready when it feels like firm modeling clay.
Tip the cocoa into the shallow dish. Scoop the ganache with the teaspoon, about 10 g per truffle (a large hazelnut), and set the portions on a plate. Roll each portion between your palms, very quickly, into a rough ball: truffles aren't meant to be perfect.
Roll each ball in the cocoa by shaking the dish, then shake the truffle lightly in the palm of your hand to remove the excess. Set them in paper cases and keep them in the fridge. Take them out 15 minutes before serving: they melt better at room temperature.
Check off every step to celebrate.
Truffles keep for 1 week in the fridge, in an airtight box (chocolate picks up smells). They freeze for 2 months without the cocoa: roll them in cocoa after thawing overnight in the fridge. Make them 2 or 3 days before the holidays, that's perfect.
The cream was too hot, or it was mixed too fast. Add a tablespoon of warm cream and stir briskly in the center; failing that, a few seconds with a stick blender makes it smooth.
Leave it in the fridge longer, up to overnight. If it stays soft, there was too much cream or the chocolate wasn't rich enough: add 30 g melted chocolate and let it set again.
Yes: replace the cream with 100 ml full-fat coconut milk or thick plant-based cream, and the butter with coconut oil. The texture is very close.
Add this recipe to your meal, then come back for appetizers, a drink, cookies with coffee: Popotam brings them together, with the shopping for your whole table and the timeline up to dessert. Free, no account.
