Truffles Not To Be Trifled With
It’s 80p here folks, back from the dead. For those concerned souls out there, I have been on my winter break from grad school. It’s been a tough last 3 weeks, what with the constant sleeping and eating. So with only 1 final week until it’s time to dust off the notepads and spend another $500 on textbooks, I made good on a promise to Gansie.
You see, Gansie bugs me pretty much once a week to re-make these chocolate truffles that I’ve made a couple of times. And by bug, I mean hound, demand, and order. Being the lazy person that I am, I managed to delay the threequel as long as possible. But as all good procrastinating must come to an end, I promised to make them during my winter break.
Truth be told, and in typical 80p fashion, I just followed a recipe. My limit in kitchen creativity stops at suggesting to add more salt. But this is a damn good recipe that makes a damn good chocolate truffle. You can read it for yourself, but the only step I would change is to chop the chocolate up much more than “coarse”. The cream/hazelnut/butter/bourbon mixture has to melt all the chocolate and big chunks simply don’t work. I spent a half hour today basically mincing the surprisingly hard to cut chocolate.
And people, when you make these, and you really should, don’t be a wimp and skip out on the bourbon. It adds a great kick to make the taste more than just chocolate. Also, don’t be chintz and put Jim Beam or Evan Williams in there, use a little of the good stuff in the back of your liquor cabinet. I went with one of my favorites, Blanton’s.
So this is a pretty labor intensive project, but the rewards are worth it. Don’t believe me? Just wait until Gansie comments after this post.
on January 7th, 2009 at 9:55 am
the first time 80 made me these truffles i told him i never really loved him until he presented me with this chocolate-bourbon dream—and we had already been dating for 2 years.
i was kidding, of course.
on January 7th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Thanks for friending me on Foodbuzz. I love gansie’s comment!
on January 7th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I can tell you right now I’m going to have a new assignment if my girlfriend reads this post. Thanks a lot, 80p.
on January 8th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Jim Beam was my roommate in college. Yeah, he’s not the classiest guy in my cabinet, but he’s never let me down.
on January 8th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
These look incredible! How easy are they to handle? They look like they’d melt in your hand!
on January 8th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
these look so sinfully delicious! I don’t think I will be able to eat just one!
on January 8th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Don’t you worry Michael, I have a handle of Beam in my cabinet as well. I got nothing against it. Just thought these deserved the good stuff, especially since only about a shot goes in there.
By that point in the top picture, Nick, they had been in the fridge for about an hour and a half. So they had solidified to the point they could hold their shape. I used a melon baller (dipped in cornstarch) to mold them. Plus, if it did stick to my fingers, I just licked it off!
Gansie ate the equivalent of about 5 while I was making them. She sat next to me with a spoon at the ready. I had to distract her with some vodka.
on January 9th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Damn, those look good. And here I just finished off my good bourbon. Guess I’d better go out and get me some more…
on January 9th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Oh these look so good!
on January 11th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Gorgeous! And the second photo, well it’s fine art, you could hang it on the wall!
on February 26th, 2009 at 7:24 am
[...] there I vowed to myself to abuse 80’s liquor cabinet on behalf of our meals, kinda like this truffle amazingness. A selfless host, indeed, Bemlmot took the time to shake up a blood orange vinaigrette [...]