This week I have a truffle recipe but with a twist. It will be truffles in both the Belgian and French styles. Which are a little different from each other. The most obvious one being that French truffles are made with chocolate and predominantly cream and Belgium truffles are chocolate and predominantly butter. The directions are pretty much the same for both though.
These make simple chocolate truffles not fancy filled ones or any flavour other then chocolate.
You will need!
BELGIAN CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE RECIPE
Ingredients
- 75 gram (5 Tbsp) unsalted butter – softened at room temperature
- 30 ml (2 Tbsp) whipping cream (at least 35% fat) – at room temperature
- 200 gram (7 oz.) chocolate (54 – 65% cocoa)
- 5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract
- 150 gram (5 – 5.5 oz.) chocolate (54 – 65% cocoa) – for coating
- Cocoa powder, dried coconut flakes, crushed nuts, candy sprinkles ect for decorating
FRENCH CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE RECIPE
- 25 gram (approx. 1/5 stick or 1 oz.) unsalted butter
- 90 ml (1/4 C plus 2 Tbsp) whipping cream (at least 35% fat)
- 200 gram (7 oz.) chocolate (54 – 65% cocoa)
- 5 ml (1tsp) vanilla extract
- 150 gram (5 – 5.5 oz.) chocolate (54 – 65% cocoa) – for coating
- Cocoa powder, dried coconut flakes, crushed nuts, candy sprinkles, Ect for decorating
Equipment needed
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Bowls
- Double boiler
- Piping bags
- Spatula
- Skewers
- Baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- Wire racks
Instructions
- Melt chocolate using a double boiler I’ve gone over how to do this in the past but its easy to find how if you forgot.
2. FOR BELGIAN Put butter – softened but not melted – into a mixing bowl. Beat at low speed at first, then gradually raise speed to high and beat until the butter is creamy and fluffy, colour turns to light yellow or ivory the fluffier your butter is, the more creamy, melt-in-the-mouth your truffles will be eventually.
FOR FRENCH In one bowl, add together butter (cubed), chocolate (chopped into small pieces or grated) and whipping cream. Using the same method for the Belgium Chocolate truffle recipe, melt all the ingredients and whisk until combined. Add all the other ingredients, mix well.
3. FOR BELGIAN Lower speed, slowly add whipping cream, continue beating until combined. Add 1/2 of the melted chocolate from step 1 (cooled but still in liquid form), beat until incorporated. Add the rest of the chocolate, mix well again. If you use vanilla extract add it at this final step. Beat until combined.
FOR FRENCH Place the chocolate mixture in the fridge until the chocolate hardens a little. Transfer chocolate to a piping bag. Follow the same remaining steps as the Belgium truffle method, starting from step four.
4. Transfer chocolate to a piping bag. Prepare a tray lined with parchment paper Cut the tip of the piping bag by 1 – 1.5 cm. While holding the bag upright, pipe chocolate to form 1.5 cm rounds. After piping all the chocolate, grease your fingertip with oil or melted butter to smooth out any tips on top of the chocolate rounds, try to mould them into semi-spheres. Place the tray into the refrigerator for 20 – 30 minutes until the chocolates have hardened.
This method involves creaming butter so the final chocolate mixture should almost feel like buttercream, which is not runny and can be piped easily. If the mixture is too runny, you can refrigerate it for 10 – 15 minutes so it can harden a little. Make sure not to leave the chocolate in the fridge for too long, because it could become too hard to be piped.
5. Once the chocolates are hard enough to be handled, take them out of the fridge and start shaping. In step four they were already shaped them into semi-spheres so in this step we can simply stick two pieces together to form a ball. Use your fingers to fix the chocolate balls into perfect round form if needed. After shaping all the chocolate balls, place them onto the tray, refrigerate for another 15 – 20 minutes so the truffles can set, making it easier for the decorating step.
6. While waiting for the chocolates to set, melt the remaining 150 gram chocolate for coating. Do the same way as step one.
Line the worktop with parchment paper. Place a wire rack on top of the paper sheet. Get your decorations ready: cocoa powder (sifted), dried coconut flakes, candy sprinkles, etc.
7. Dip chocolate balls into melted chocolate. You can stick them with a skewer to make the dipping easier.
8. After dipping each truffle, turn it over so the chocolate can cover its entire surface, shake gently so the excessive chocolate can fall back into your coating chocolate bowl. Place the coated truffle on the wire rack
9. After coating all the truffles, place them back into the fridge so the coatings can dry partially. IOnce the chocolate coatings have dried a little but are still tacky, just finish your truffles by rolling them in cocoa powder, coconut flakes, or crushed nuts, whatever you want to cover them in