OK, so I realize that Valentine’s Day has come and gone, and this would have been the perfect recipe and how-to post to share with all of you in advance, but alas, my schedule had me making these the night before (till 1 am at that), so it wasn’t in the cards. BUT—I would be remiss not to share the outcome of my confectionary quest with you.
I decided to make chocolate truffles for my valentine this year, thanks to my added confidence in the sweets department, and set out to produce the highest quality treats I could. I consulted what has quickly become my new favorite book on all things chocolate, Pure Chocolate by Fran Bigelow, the creator of Seattle’s famous Fran’s Chocolates, to guide me on my journey.
Fran’s simple but exact recipe for the chocolate ganache filling was everything you’d want in a truffle—soft, melt-in-your-mouth, and full of chocolate flavor. I used high quality semi-sweet chocolate (62% cacao), unsalted butter, and the freshest heavy cream I could find to make the centers. I even infused some pureed raspberries into one batch to create a flavor variety.
When it came time to assemble the truffles, I put the creamy ganache into piping bags, piped out Hershey kiss-shaped dollops, rolled them into balls (some of which weren’t perfect, but I liked them that way), and dipped them into dark coating chocolate. This step was the real secret to my truffle success. I was able to take home some coating chocolate (which is chocolate that has already been tempered) from the pastry kitchen at FCI and this eliminated the challenging and messy process of tempering chocolate, ensuring the truffles had the perfect coating that set just right. You can find coating chocolate at speciality baking shops or online.
To make them really special, I dipped some of them in a variety of toppings including toasted coconut, roasted almonds, fleur de sel, and cocoa powder, filled some with cherries and caramel, and drizzled the rest with luscious white chocolate. I purchased a set of Ateco dipping tools in advance in order to properly dip the truffles, but I will say, I still made a big chocolate mess 
Not only were these fun to make, they were absolutely delicious. My valentine was really impressed not only by their taste, but the time and love that went into making them. And really, that’s what this was all about.
I highly recommend picking up a copy of Pure Chocolate if you have a real interest in the art of working with chocolate, and especially if you love truffles.
Tara O'Keeffe