Chocolate Series | The Simplest Way to Finish the Simplest Truffles

If you choose to use your simple ganache to make truffles, this is the easiest and least technical way to finish them. Scoop out equal amounts of ganache and roll them by hand into balls. Place a small amount of sifted cocoa (or any other topping that will adhere to the ganache) into a tray and shake the tray, rolling the balls of ganache around to completely coat. As you pick each truffle up, tap it gently a couple of times to shake off the excess. Consume within one week.

A professional truffle is normally surrounded by a thin coating of chocolate before being decorated with items such as: flavored sugars and powders, chopped nuts, chocolate shavings, cacao nibs, toasted coconut, and cocoa, etc., but precrystallized chocolate (a.k.a. tempered chocolate) is needed. Precrystallizing chocolate is a whole other technical process and one that I will eventually cover. There are also many different types of recipes and methods for making ganache that result in different flavors and textures.

In the mean time, if you need a quick, easy, and satisfying chocolate fix, this method is always an option.

Tagged as: [ basics chocolate ganache recipes truffles ]

Sumptuous Goodies for the Holidays

Transfer sheets are super cool. Cocoa butter is painted onto acetate in an array of colors and designs. You apply the transfer sheet directly onto the chocolate immediately after it has been dipped into crystallized (tempered) chocolate. Once the chocolate sets, you peel off the acetate and the cocoa butter is imprinted on the chocolate leaving a glossy shine! It is very exciting!












A Croquembouche is a French dessert which is traditionally served at weddings but can be eaten at any time for any celebration. The tower is made of profiteroles filled with pastry cream that are glued together with caramel. In this case, I filled some with vanilla pastry cream and some with praline pastry cream and decorated it with spun sugar but it can be decorated in many different ways. Translated into English, Croquembouche means "crunch in the mouth" and crunch we did!

Tagged as: [ caramel chocolate croquembouche marshmallows nougatine pastry pistachio sheets transfer truffles ]