Make Your Own Chocolate Truffles

Chocolate truffles, named for their vague resemblance to the truffle mushroom, are shockingly easy to make. They contain all of three ingredients and take just a few minutes to assemble. The only challenge, as in any recipe with so few ingredients, is that chocolate truffles are only as good as what they’re made of. So, roll up your sleeves (this is not a mess free endeavor) and wow your Valentine this year. It’s hard to top homemade truffles. Of course, if you’d rather purchase professionally made truffles, there are many options on SimplyChocolate.com!

• 1

  Chop your chocolate into very small pieces and place in a medium sized bowl.

  
• 2

  Heat the heavy cream in the microwave or on the stove until almost boiling then pour over the chocolate, stirring to cover all the chocolate.

  
• 3

  Allow the chocolate to melt for a minute then whisk until smooth and shiny.

  
• 4

  Whisk in the vanilla extract.

  
• 5

  Place chocolate mixture, known as a ganache, in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• 6

  Prepare your toppings in shallow dishes. Cocoa powder or crushed nuts are traditional and delicious. Powdered sugar works well if you’re serving your truffles the same day, but will dull after a day in the fridge, sprinkles are fun and give your truffles a cheery look. Do not use colored sugar as the moisture from the truffle will leech the color right out.

  
• 7

  Using a spoon, a small cookie scoop, or a melon baller, scoop a ball of ganache into your hand. Working quickly, roll the ganache into a ball.

  
• 8

  Drop your ganache ball in one of your prepared topping dishes and roll it around, pressing lightly to make sure the topping sticks. Place the resulting truffle in a little cupcake paper and set aside while you work on the rest.

  
• 9

  Truffles can be kept in the fridge for two weeks, but should be served at room temperature.

Ingredients

• >2.5 oz Semi-sweet or Bitter-sweet chocolate*
• >2.5 oz Heavy Whipping Cream
• >1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• >Possible coating: Cocoa powder, sprinkles, powdered sugar, crushed nuts, shredded coconut.
• >*Use as much chocolate as you want, just remember that the ratio is 1:1. If you use 5 oz of chocolate, you’ll need 5oz of heavy cream.