Six Truffles

I've been doing so much chopping, warming, stirring, rolling, and dipping of chocolate in recent days that I've developed symptoms of the carpal tunnel sort. Since I've been making sweets rather than making progress on the dissertation, I should probably avoid confusing the swelling and stiffness in my hands with any injury incurred from hours of furious typing. I'm suffering the consequences of of an activity so much sweeter than forming senteces on an electronic keyboard. I've been making Christmas gifts...pretty little edible things. It's truffle-maker's repetitive motion stress that's ailing me, and I couldn't be happier.


Aiming to spend responsibly and give richly this Christmas season, I tried to make and bake as many gifts as I could. In a moment of presumptuousness, I passed over all of those gift-worthy cookie and fudge recipes, girded my loins with a checkered apron, and embarked on a truffle making extravaganza. The recent arrival of Trader Joe's--and their inexpensive "pound plus" Belgian chocolate bars--made my plan seem so simple, so reasonable.* Come on, I thought, what's a box of plain old truffles compared to a box of six different truffles. That's almost a week's truffles for those of herculean will, twenty minutes' worth for those more inclined to an all out chocolate binge.



Food and Paper Truffles, clockwise from top left:
-chocolate covered macadamia nut truffle rolled in toasted coconut
-white chocolate ginger bread truffle with candied ginger
-dark chocolate covered caramel dusted with fleur de sel
-dark chocolate covered peanut butter truffle topped with salted peanuts
-dark chocolate truffle dusted with cocoa powder
-milk chocolate espresso truffle with chocolate covered coffee bean

For all their associations with decadence, truffles are simple things: (1) Melt chocolate in hot cream; (2) add your choice of flavorings; (3) chill; (4) form into balls; (5) chill; (6) dip, roll, or sprinkle; (7) and chill. I started with a few recipes from epicurious.com, and added some nuts here, some white chocolate there, until I had six tasty sounding varieties. Truffles don't test your baking smarts; they test your finger joints and your patience. A sharp knife for cutting chocolate bars and a decent double boiler will help preserve your hands. To preserve your patience? Well, this advice I can give rather confidently: pacing before the closed door of your refrigerator will not encourage your chocolate to stiffen up any faster, and neither will opening that closed door and poking the chilling chocolate with your finger. Out of all those repetitive tasks involved in truffle making, the only really onerous one is the waiting. But you know what they say comes to those who wait.

After a week of pacing and poking, I had a freezer full of truffles resting in tupper ware containers. When the gift-giving hour arrived, I plopped six truffles in candy papers, wrapped them in tissue paper, and closed them in boxes tied with twine. Those brown squirrels are eating acorns, I'm pretty sure, but they could almost be cradling truffles.


* I used Trader Joe's "pound plus" semisweet (53%) and dark (70%) chocolate bars for these truffles. I liked the flavor of this chocolate, and will use it in the future. I don't doubt that some more expensive chocolates are better, but they are also more expensive. This chocolate is a real deal at around $3 for 17.6 ounces. I do not recommend, however, Trader Joe's white chocolate chips. They are too sweet, and do not melt well. In fact, in the middle of dipping the ginger bread truffles, I chucked a whole pound of the stuff into the trash and went out to Whole Foods for several bars of Ghiradelli white chocolate. They melted very nicely and tasted good too.