Basic Truffle Recipe

Time and time again, I have visited food blogs--each overpouring with lovely, delicious, stylish, knowledgeable and witty recipes/musings--and I have learned more about life, love, art, and food. Every foody has brought me closer each of these elements, allowing me to gently fold them together as every loving baker does. Love is art, life is love, food is poetry, and so on. Simplicity. Unity. Gentle togetherness.
And then they blog about truffles.
There are some simple rules that can make or break a ganache. Thankfully, they are incredibly simple and will leave your tastebuds thanking you for that je ne sais quoi shift.
“Proper” ganache should include a mixture of heavy cream, butter, and a sugar of sorts (Lyle’s Golden Syrup or Organic Raw Agave are my preferences as opposed to corn or palm syrups) heated and poured over chocolate. Three beautiful, warm ingredients and while they are my holy trinity they can be deliciously exchanged, modified, or even upgraded (check out my vegan section for that) with the perfect fourth ingredient of a solid chocolate.
To inspire your drive toward simplicity, and to bear in mind the delicate treatment of the three ingredients going with your chocolate, why not get a little help from Three Little Birds:


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The Basic Truffle Recipe

8 oz of quality chocolate*
⅔ cp heavy cream (35%-40%)
1-2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp syrup  (bear in mind consistency, corn or cane syrups are thick, while agave and maple syrups are light and more like water so if using these add an oz more chocolate)

Chop the chocolate into fairly fine pieces, placing them into a heat resistant bowl. Set aside.
Gently melt the butter on medium-low heat, adding the cream shortly after. Dissolve syrup in the warm liquid and bump the heat to medium if need be. Once you see the first bubbles of boiling forming along the edges, take the cream mix off the burner. Stir.
Pour the cream mix over the chocolate and gently whisk, or stir with a wooden spoon.
Cover and place in the fridge. If you like a very shiny chocolate you can stir the ganache after 30-40 min. and cover it again or you can just leave it for a minimum of two hours.
Once cooled enough, roll the chocolate into little, big, uniform, or non-uniform balls. Either dust them in cocoa or get adventurous with spices/nuts, etc. Refrigerate or quick freeze the truffles and then you’ll have at least 30 little delights to feast upon.


*Bernard Callebaut chocolate is available in many bulk stores, but beware of blooms and aging. Chocolate can keep for up to one year if left in a cool, dry place. If you live in Toronto and are looking for vegan, fair trade chocolate, SOL is a wonderful little company, getting its chocolate as close to the source and with as little additives as possible. White chocolate can also be lovely, but bear in mind that it is the buttery mass of the cocoa bean and is thus far less solid than the reduced dark matter, so bump up this recipe to nearly double if using only white chocolate, or your fingers will end up hopelessly sticky... not that that’s a bad thing.
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The most important rule is that of heat; never boil your cream and never put your chocolate directly above a heated element--the texture, look, and taste of burnt chocolate is most displeasing. Keep the chocolate in a non-heat-conducting bowl--the warmth of the cream is enough to gently melt the chocolate while not scorching it. You will find the shiny pudding-like consistency of a good ganache is not just visually pleasing but assists the setting and rolling processes--it keeps your chocolate smoother and more together, allowing for a consist set, minimizing air bubbles and blooms.
The next rule--relating to the first--is that of texture, which is why I encourage the use of even miniscule amounts of butter and syrup; your ganache should be well-mixed, shiny and lacking air pockets (as your chocolate hardens, air pockets will turn into discoloured plumes over the chocolate, making it look old and giving it an uneven texture).
The rest is entirely that of preference. While I would suggest dark chocolate, this is merely a matter of taste, despite the temptation to boast that it’s a matter of objectively better, more layered, dynamic, flavourful chocolate. However, one should be aware of taste pairings--it shouldn’t be shocking that different spices/flavourings add a different layer of taste depending on the type and quality of your chocolate, but this is no more a rule than whether or not to put oregano in pasta sauce is a rule. One will only know if one experiments. And experimenting, I have most certainly done.
It began in my fourth year of university. After two intense years of weight loss aggravated by physical and mental health problems I was determined to eat and be content with my life. I had known for some time that I had been unfulfilled and generally not where I was supposed to be--I figured, step one meant eating right (or simply eating). Yet, to figure out that the preparing of food was where I felt fulfilled, I first focused upon the consumption of food. Very quickly this trickled into the feeding of others--what foods were better for the allergies of the children I babysat and the comfort and health of their mother, what was best for my kosher-friendly friends, for the vegan-dabbling raw foody best friend, etc. I even considered foods that my bland-loving friends could enjoy. For years, muffins had been the realm of experimentation, so why not something even better and appetite-inducing? Chocolate.
Once the chocolate experimentations began, it was as if a whole new world had opened. Having been on a medication which made it difficult to fulfill most any desire (known as Wellbutrin, an anti-depressant, marketed as a smoking-cessation aid due its suppression of appetites), experimenting with the most appetizingly delicious flavours made my appetites take a more delightful turn. The making and sharing of chocolate filled the emotional wasteland that had been clear-cut by repressive medications, an unpoetic educational institution, and an increasingly devoid affection.
At this time, I had been working on an undergraduate thesis--the topic of which, unsurprisingly, was desire and its political/medical controlling/manipulating/repressing. Some people find the academic tone to be the best mode of self-expression. I realized while writing my thesis that I was not among such lovely, adamant, analytical folk. My critiques of the medical community were far too impassioned, far too cocky, and far too theoretical for the structured thesis-format. Moreover, I discovered, all too late, that it was not a form that I inherently enjoyed. Ultimately, few people truly find fulfillment and completion of self-expression in academe. They are a lucky, lost, mad few, indeed.