A Truffle Teaser....Detention followed by Redemption

Well today, the lesson was all on truffles.  Those beautiful little chocolate confections that were originally designed to look like truffle fungi that are found wild and are dark black in color.  These culinary delights were traditionally foraged for in the woods by pigs.  In order to mimic the appearance of the truffle, the filling was traditionally dense and made of chocolate combined with cream.  There is a very specific technique to making truffles that keeps the filling smooth on the tongue without any grit or unmelted chocolate.  The truffles are then rolled in chocolate in the palm of your hand.....twice.  We did not finish today, but will have to finish in the morning.  This hand-rolling technique is a bit tricky because you want to evenly coat the truffle without a huge amount of extra chocolate and you want there to be enough to have a definite shell of chocolate on the truffle as well.  After the first coating sets up, you dip them again and decorate.  If the truffle filling is particularly soft, then you can pipe it into a bed of cocoa powder and let it harden up and then roll it in cocoa to help get that round shape without making a mess with the sticky filling.

Mexican Chocolate truffle filling rolled in cocoa and waiting to be dipped.

 

Truffles on trays...some still waiting for dipping (two more trays not pictured)

 

We made three kind of truffle fillings in all: French Mint, Mexican Chocolate, and Pistachio White Chocolate.  They are delicious, but learning does not come without a price.  The first batch of mint truffles that we made earlier this week had a bit of grain to the filling that you could feel on the tongue (many reasons for this to happen) and the chocolate shell was so thin that it was almost non-existent.  So the chocolate student had to redo his work and we melted them all down and strained the filling so we could start over.  Yes....all over (detention).  That is they way you get good at chocolates.  The French Mint truffles were remade and formed and dipped from some other truffle filling we had waiting and the re-melted truffles were mixed with praline and turned into these gorgeous mint praline candy bars.  You never waste product in a bakery....always find a way to use it.   These are big enough to serve three people and are very decadent. 

Mint Praline candy bars

Redemption came when dipping the truffles a second time and I had at last mastered the technique of the hand rolling and the truffles had the correct amount of chocolate on them.  I go back early in the morning to finish rolling and coating the truffles.  We will then add the decorations and I will get more good photos at that time.  I must say that the filling is incredibly smooth and delicious...Marda knows best.  Stay tuned for more photos of truffles tomorrow.