Following Turkey comes... Chocolate!

The Passionate Cook dedicates Sugar High Friday #25 to the devine, the sinful, the delicious: chocolate truffle. The catch? She's expecting us to MAKE them.

I've surfed around. A lot of you are good at this candy-making thing. REALLY good. Bordering on professional-good. My candy-making endeavors to date include fudge, caramel corn, and a failed attempt at divinity.

I have a lot to learn.

And I realize my limitations -- I'm not going to wing it on this one. I'm counting on Google for some tried-and-true recipes to get me through.

What better way to spend the Friday after Thanksgiving than freckled with chocolate? White chocolate for the Limoncello Truffles. Bittersweet chocolate for the Caramel Truffles. Milk chocolate for the Nutella Truffles.

I opt to start slowly, with what looks like the most idiot-proof preparation: the Nutella truffles. Plus if I fail, I've still got 3/4 of an open jar of Nutella and a spoon... I assemble the ingredients, boil the cream mixture, add the chocolate, and let stand as directed. So far, so good. I like a recipe that gives me time to clean-as-I-go. Whisk in the Nutella and refrigerate.

On to Limoncello. I struggle a little here -- enough to forgo the digital camera for a bit. I have no problem infusing the cream with the lemon zest, but by the time I've strained it, it's not warm enough to melt two ounces of white chocolate, let alone 8. So I return the mixture to a saucepan over a VERY low flame and whisk like heck until I have meltage. Into the refrigerator next to the Nutella it goes...

I take one look at the Epicurious recipe for the Caramel Truffles and practically punt the camera out a window. It's not technically difficult, but it's a lot of steps for one person. So I concentrate on executing and save the photography for the end product.

Ganache is in the refrigerator now, and as soon as I hit "publish post" here, I'll begin truffle assembly. Stay tuned for an update with the outcome -- and more photographs!

8:00 PM Update: Production complete. Tasty, but time consuming and not terribly pretty. I'm glad I tried my hand at truffles, but I'll probably go back to paying $4.00 a piece at the local chocolatier.

Technorati Tags: Cooking | Recipes | Sugar High Friday 25 | Candy | National Blog Posting Month 2006