Classic Truffles, attempt #1

The initial ganache recipe I went with was the one on About.com.  I made some adjustments to their ingredient list due to not having enough chocolate.
Equipment List:

• baking sheet
• aluminum foil OR parchment paper
• wire whisk
• plastic wrap
• serrated sharp knife OR food chopper
• microwave-safe cup and a microwave OR kettle and a range top
• instant-read cooking thermometer
• measuring cup and measuring spoon
• plate OR pie tin
• sieve
• mixing bowl
• teaspoon OR small disher
• plastic or vinyl disposable gloves

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• ½ cup heavy whipping cream
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• ½ cup cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Using the serrated sharp knife or food chopper, chop chocolate.
2. Place chocolate in a mixing bowl.
3. Measure ½ cup of heavy whipping cream
4. If using a microwave, pour cream into microwave-safe cup.
   If using a range top, pour cream into kettle.
5. Scald the cream (180°-185°F).
6. Pour warmed cream into center of chocolate.
7. Allow to stand 1 minute.
8. Stir with the wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted.
9. Stir in the vanilla extract.
10. Allow to cool to room temperature.
11. Place plastic wrap directly on top of ganache.
12. Store in refrigerator until stiff (≈2 hours).
13. In the meantime, line baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
14. Take ganache out of refrigerator.
15. Using teaspoon or disher, scoop up some ganache.
16. While wearing plastic or vinyl gloves, roll scooped ganache between palms to form into a ball.
17. Place on prepared pan.
18. Repeat scooping and rolling until ganache is used up.
19. Put pan in refrigerator for 1 hour.
20. In the meantime, use a sieve to sift the cocoa powder onto plate or pie tin.
21. Take truffles out of refrigerator.
22. Roll a truffle in cocoa powder on plate.
23. Bounce this truffle in sieve to knock off excess cocoa powder.
24. Place back onto baking sheet.
25. Repeat rolling and bouncing on all truffles.
26. Store finished truffles in an air-tight container in the refrigerator OR consume them all and don't worry about it.

The chocolate I chose was Guittard.  This is supposed to be one of the high-end brands and was available on sale at Sprouts.

Here is the chocolate after three short bursts in my Ninja® Food Chopper.

I used this organic cream because it was less expensive than the others at the time.  I measured ½ cup into a glass measuring cup.  {I later discovered that I should mathematically have used slightly less due to the recipe size change.}  Since I know the scalding temperature of cream is 180°-185°F, I decided to go with my microwave and instant-read thermometer.  I ran the microwave in 30-second increments, stirring and taking temperature after each round.  It only took two rounds to get into the 170s.  I ran the microwave for 5 more seconds, and the temperature was 181.2°F.  I poured this into the chocolate and allowed it to stand before stirring with the whisk.  I did not whisk, as I would for scrambled eggs; I slowly stirred, attempting to combine the cream and the chocolate.  When it looked like all the chocolate was melted, I added the ½ tsp. vanilla extract.

It kind of looked and felt like a chocolate pudding.  The recipe said to cover with plastic wrap, but I could not find any in my apartment, so I pressed a freezer bag on top of the ganache and put it in the fridge, setting a timer for 2 hours for it to harden.  In the meantime, I lined a baking sheet with aluminum foil and sifted my cocoa powder . . .

. . . going from lumpy to powdery in the process.  I also chose to use my #70 disher, as this was the same disher I was using on the cake truffles.

The chilled ganache came out of the refrigerator, I put on some non-powdered vinyl gloves, and I set about rolling truffles.  I'm glad I used the disher and the gloves.  The ganache was pretty solid, so the disher cut through it nicely.  The chocolate got all over the gloves and the disher.  It became very hard to hold the disher handle due to the amount of chocolate oil on the gloves.

The resulting pan of truffles was put in the refrigerator for an hour to get them stiff again.   I was a little disappointed that I got only 20 truffles.  Cost-wise, I spent about $6 on ingredients, so each truffle is worth about 30¢, not counting labor.  {I'll have to time this process next round.}  After their hour of fridge time, the truffles were rolled in the sifted powdered cocoa.

I now have a pan of truffles to try.  Well, I had a pan of truffles.  I tried one and learned three things:  They should be sifted again after being dusted with cocoa powder or one will inhale cocoa powder upon eating them, the cocoa powder needs to be just as high-end as the chocolate inside, and the chocolate wasn't chopped fine enough or the cream wasn't hot enough to melt all the chocolate.

I put four truffles into a freezer bag and put them in the freezer, and I put four into a glass jar and vacuum sealed them before putting them in the freezer, too.  The rest don’t really need to be kept in the refrigerator for freshness.  All the germs were already killed when the cream was scalded.  However, they do not maintain their stiffness without the chill, so they must be cold stored or immediately consumed.  I put some of them into an air-tight Rubbermaid® Glass container and left one on the counter at 7:39 p.m. to see what would happen.

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