It’s Christmas time and I could not be more excited. I absolutely love Christmas time. The weather gets cold, wreaths cover every door in the city and lights in every color flicker from windows from downtown to the suburbs.
Christmas music invades the radio and the fireplace finally gets some use after ten months off the job. In fact, I had my first fire of the season this week and it was marvelous. Within minutes my living room was nice and toasty and was like that for the next couple hours.
Along with Christmas come Christmas parties. To me, there is nothing better than surrounding oneself with close friends and family members during the holidays. This year, I am going to be introducing some homemade truffles.
I originally thought that making truffles would be incredibly difficult, but I stand, well sit, corrected. A couple days ago I decided I would try to find out how to make truffles, and, like I mentioned, I was nervous that I was getting in over my head. However, what I learned was that truffles are not hard to make, they just take a little bit of time.
Truffles are perfect for parties. These bite-sized treats are simple to make and assemble and are so rich and decadent that guests will want more. The best part of making the truffles is that once you learn the basic version, you can begin experimenting with different fillings and flavors to make it all your own. I am going to try adding some chestnuts to mine this year.
Basic Ganache Truffles
Takes about 6 hours.
Makes about 30.
Ingredients:
Ganache
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup of heavy cream
Pinch of salt
1 cup of peanut butter (smooth or chunky, your choice)
Truffles
Unsweetened cocoa powder
Directions:
Ganache
1. Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl. In a medium saucepan, heat up heavy cream.
2. Pour cream over chocolate and let stand for 10 minutes without stirring. This keeps it from getting grainy.
3. Immediately add peanut butter and let cool in refrigerator for 4 hours to over night.
Truffles
1. Using a 1/2 tablespoon measuring spoon, scoop up the ganache and roll it into a ball in your hands. Let chill again for 15 minutes.
Roll on cocoa powder and let chill in small baking cups for 30 minutes or overnight and serve.