The Truffle Shuffle - Part 2

Or alternatively, "If I keep this up, I'm going to need stretchy pants." (See  Part 1 here.)

Finally got to enjoy the long-awaited Valentine's truffle class at The Kitchen Studio. (Yes, it's March. But remember the Snowpocalypse? Class was initially scheduled for blizzard, Day 0.) 

First thing you need for truffle making? A ginormous amount of chocolate, in various varieties, if you like. 

But definitely some chocolate discs for melting (NOT chocolate chips, says Chef Christine).  That's her in green.  It's pretty obvious that she loves her job! (BTW, the last word in the photo title was supposed to be studio, but it's funnier this way.)

You can buy these chocolate discs from online sources including King Arthur Flour and Gourmail. (In the summer King Arthur has special chocolate shipping options, to make sure your chocolate doesn't arrive as soup!)

We made some lovely truffles, including salted caramel (my favorite!), Aztec truffles with cinnamon and cayenne), Chai tea, cappuccino, and Gianduja, which is a hazelnut milk chocolate. The process is best tacked over two days.  Chefs Christine and Caroline had done an enormous amount of prep work, so we could get some practice with each step of the hands-on process.  But a lot of truffle-making consists of waiting for the chocolate to set.

Here's my husband, commenting that his handiwork looks like a small mountain lion got loose in the kitchen.

He does have a point, but once you get past rolling the centers (a messy affair), the outer coating hides all that.  It's super-helpful if you have a chocolate tempering machine, like so:

I really REALLY want one of these.  But really, what good could come of that?  I would be coating everything in chocolate.  Pretzels, cookies, bacon... mmm... chocolate-covered bacon.  Oh, sorry, got a little distracted there.

Truffle class was lots of fun, and we got to bring home samples of our work (and by our work, I mean mostly Chef Christine's, though we tried). 

Next time I want some truffles... I'm probably going to Zoe's (or Perfect Truffle, or Candy Kitchen).  They're fun to play with, but we're lucky enough to have not one but THREE awesome chocolate stores in downtown Frederick, where they are more than happy to do all the work, and I am more than happy to pay a little more for really good truffles, and let them clean up the mess!

Comments

[Christine VB]

So great having you in class April, and thanks for the write-up! And btw, you can borrow that tempering machine whenever you need it. :)

[Beth Schillaci]

I was happy to be there for Truffle Shuffle - Part 2. Maybe Part 3 should be a truffle making tweet-up or just a visit to one of the downtown truffle shops?

[April F.]

Oooh... a truffle making food/cookbook swap tweetup?!?!?! :D

[reverse phone lookup]

so therefore I default to the one objective source