[Sca-cooks] OOP: The Truffle Recipe

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Hullo, the list!

After looking through the Larousse Gastronomique and the recipes 
posted here, I finally went with the recipe Anne-Marie posted, which 
was pretty similar to the one I believe I used the last time I made 
truffles (and also pretty similar to the one Selene posted).

I made a large batch (probably good for about a hundred truffles). I used:

1 cup heavy cream
1 lb. Callebaut bittersweet
1 lb. Callebaut semi-sweet
10 ounces (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 bottle cheap champagne, simmered down to an amber, honey-like 
syrup, about 2 - 3 Tbs.

cocoa for dusting

This scales down to somewhat less butter than the Ghirardelli recipe 
AM posted (she seemed to feel the recipe made for truffles just a 
touch too unstable and loose, and since these were intended to be 
stored and/or travel, I thought it would be a good idea to reduce it 
a little). Using that recipe as a starting point, my recipe in those 
quantities would be more like this:

1/4 cup heavy cream
8 ounces dark chocolate
5 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 cup champagne, reduced to a syrup of about 3/4 Tbs.

cocoa for dusting, around 1/2 cup

Start by reducing the champagne in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Heat 
the cream, either in another saucepan or in a double boiler (which 
you'll need later anyway); add the chocolate and the butter, all cut 
into small pieces, and stir until smooth, shiny, and melted. Oops, 
got some on your finger. Add the champagne reduction, making sure you 
get it all. Oops, you got some more on your finger.

Remove from heat and transfer to a wide bowl and refrigerate, covered 
with plaswrap or parchment, with the covering pressed down on the 
surface of your chocolate lava. If there's an airspace, y'see, 
there'll be condensation at that spot, and it messes up the chocky, 
and then you'd have to dispose of the evidence.

When cool and solidified, scoop with a teaspoon or a Parisienne Knife 
(a.k.a. a melon baller), and roll in cocoa powder. Some people use a 
mixture of cocoa and instant coffee, paprika, and I'm looking at both 
the chocolate nibs I picked up the other day (actual, chopped, 
roasted cocoa beans, which resemble nothing more than 
intensely-chocolate-flavored toasted almonds) and the edible gold 
dust I had left over from an SCA feast I cooked a while back, and 
saying, "Hmmm."

Adamantius