Chocolate Truffles

We were supposed to go to a friend’s place for dinner during the weekend. I usually buy/make some goodies to take with us when we go for dinner parties. I didn’t have time to bake anything that day. But I had a couple of hours to kill before we could leave for dinner. And I was browsing for recipes on Martha Stewart’s website http://www.marthastewart.com/ . I found this recipe for Easy Chocolate Truffles, and was so excited to see how easy it looked.

I went through the ingredient list and found that it called for ½ a cup of heavy cream. I had some left over from my Strawberry cupcakes (recipe to be posted soon). So the truffles seemed a perfect excuse to use up the cream!

I immediately set of making the truffles. They were so easy to make! The rolling of the frozen chocolate seemed a bit tricky, since the kept melting due to the heat from my hands. I had to re-freeze them a couple of times. But other than that, they turned out so wonderful and professional looking!

My friends enjoyed it. I coated my truffles with some chopped almonds. The chocolate was nice and rich, and the almonds added a good crunchy texture. Hubby who loves almonds, kept popping a truffle in his mouth every time he passed by the refrigerator.

Easy Chocolate Truffles Martha Stewart Living, September 1998

Ingredients

Yield Makes 12

•  1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
•  1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
•  Five strips 1-inch-wide orange peel, pith removed
•  8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
•  1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
•  1/4 cup sifted cocoa powder
•  1/2 cup finely chopped assorted nuts, such as walnuts, pecans, and pistachios
 

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, whisk together cream and cardamom. Add orange peel; bring just to a boil. Remove from heat; let stand 15 minutes. Line a baking pan with parchment; set it and another pan aside.

 2. Return cream mixture to heat; bring to a boil. Place chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Remove cream mixture from heat. Pour through a sieve set over chocolate; discard solids. Stir until melted and smooth.

 3. Pour chocolate mixture onto the unlined baking pan, and spread in an even layer with an offset spatula. Transfer baking pan to freezer; chill chocolate until hardened but malleable, 15 to 20 minutes.

 4. Using a tablespoon, scrape enough chocolate from pan to form a roughly shaped 1-inch ball, being careful not to press too hard against baking pan. Repeat. Transfer balls to the parchment-lined pan; chill truffles in the refrigerator 10 minutes.

 5. Place the confectioners' sugar, the cocoa powder, and the chopped nuts in three separate bowls. Roll the truffles in desired coatings