Valentine’s day is only a couple of weeks away folks! And while I’ll be spending it by myself, it’s ok I’m not crying 🥲. The hopeless romantic in me wants to help all of you that will be spending it with someone special. So today I’m going to show you a recipe for something so decadent, that it’s guaranteed to make your significant other swoon. None other than chocolate truffles!
Trust me even if you are a beginner cook you can easily make chocolate truffles at home. They only require 4 basic ingredients (heavy cream, chocolate, vanilla extract, and some sort of coating). And the process for making them requires no special techniques and is damn near foolproof.
The Right Type of Chocolate for Chocolate Truffles
Chocolate truffles are a really simple dessert that basically consists of chocolate ganache coated in something. And while chocolate “ganache” might sound like a fancy and extravagant thing to make, it’s really just a mixture of chocolate and cream.
That being said you can’t just use any old chocolate lying around the house to make a ganache. So don’t use anything generic like Hershey’s or Cadbury bars. And definitely don’t use chocolate chips because they have a coating that won’t allow the chocolate to melt properly. Instead what you want to use is high quality bittersweet block chocolate a.k.a. baking chocolate.
These come in blocks and can have a cocoa percentage that ranges anywhere from 10% to 100%. However, be mindful of this cocoa % when purchasing your chocolate. If it’s below 35% (like with some milk chocolates) then there will be too much milk to let the ganache set up. And if it’s above 85% then there will be too many cocoa solids to properly emulsify into the cream. So stick with something within the 50% to 70% range and you’ll have great chocolate truffles.
Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
- I love using vanilla extract in these truffles because vanilla is always an excellent pair with chocolate. That being said you can use other types of flavored extracts if you want something different. For example, you can use almond, lemon, peppermint, coconut, or even orange extract. Or if you want a boozy truffle then sub out the extract with 1 to 2 tablespoons of your favorite liquor like Grande Marnier, Baileys, or Chambord.
- Can I use milk chocolate? Short answer, yes! However, due to the fact that milk chocolate has more milk, you will want to reduce the amount of cream you use to ½ cup.
- One problem you might face when making these truffles is rolling them into balls. Trust me these are extra creamy truffles and they will be sticky. To help with this I always roll the chocolate ganache with gloves. However, if you are still having trouble then simply let the balls sit on the parchment lined baking sheet in your fridge for 30 minutes. This will really help them set up and make them easier to handle.
- Store the finished truffles in your fridge for up to 2 weeks, or place them in your freezer where they will last 6 months.
- Looking for other Valentine’s day desserts to try? Then check out our recipes for Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Strawberry Cheesecake Tart, or White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake.
Chocolate Truffles Recipe
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
Rest time: 3 hours
Servings: roughly 20
Ingredients
8oz. of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
⅔ Cup of heavy cream
1 Teaspoon of vanilla extract
Coating (pick at least one):
Cocoa powder
Chopped nuts (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, etc.)
Shredded coconut
Sprinkles
Instructions
- Place chopped chocolate in a bowl and set it aside
- Heat the cream: Place the heavy cream in a small pot and heat it over medium-high heat. Stir the cream and let it come just to a simmer then turn off the heat, make sure it doesn’t boil.
- Make the Ganache: Pour the hot cream into the bowl with the chopped chocolate.
Let these two ingredients sit for 5 minutes so that the chocolate starts to melt. Then add vanilla extract, and then stir all three ingredients until the chocolate is completely melted and incorporated with the cream.
- Cover the top of the chocolate ganache with plastic wrap so that it doesn’t form a film. Then let it chill in your fridge for 2 to 3 hours so that the ganache becomes firm.
- Form the ganache into truffle balls: Scoop out the chocolate ganache roughly 1 tablespoon at a time (if you have a cookie scoop this will make this much easier). Transfer these to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Then use your hands to roll each of these portions into round balls and return them to the parchment lined baking sheet.
- Coat the truffles: Place each of the coatings that you have decided to use into separate bowls. Then roll each truffle into the coatings until they are covered and return them to the baking sheet.
- Keep the chocolate truffles in your fridge until ready to eat, enjoy!
Chocolate Truffles Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 oz. of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
- ⅔ Cup of heavy cream
- 1 Teaspoon of vanilla extract
Coating (pick at least one):
- Cocoa powder
- Chopped nuts walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, etc.
- Shredded coconut
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Place chopped chocolate in a bowl and set it aside
- Heat the cream: Place the heavy cream in a small pot and heat it over medium-high heat. Stir the cream and let it come just to a simmer then turn off the heat.
- Make the Ganache: Pour the hot cream into the bowl with the chopped chocolate. Let these two ingredients sit for 5 minutes so that the chocolate starts to melt. Then add vanilla extract, and then stir all three ingredients until the chocolate is completely melted and incorporated with the cream.
- Cover the top of the chocolate ganache with plastic wrap so that it doesn’t form a film. Then let it chill in your fridge for 2 to 3 hours so that the ganache becomes firm.
- Form the ganache into truffle balls: Scoop out the chocolate ganache roughly 1 tablespoon at a time (if you have a cookie scoop this will make this much easier). Transfer these to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Then use your hands to roll each of these portions into round balls and return them to the parchment lined baking sheet.
- Coat the truffles: Place each of the coatings that you have decided to use into separate bowls. Then roll each truffle into the coatings until they are covered and return them to the baking sheet.
- Keep the chocolate truffles in your fridge until ready to eat, enjoy!
