can I truffle you for a drink?

With Valentines Day approaching, I have not-so-surprisingly had chocolate on my mind. There's probably nothing so perfectly balanced between decadent, elegant, and simple to make as are truffles. Better still, handmade truffles more faithfully fulfill their original intention than do perfectly-shaped machined ones. Chocolate truffles try to mimic their fungi counterparts - treasures dug up out of the dirt. The dusting of cocoa powder here represents the loamy fresh soil that you would have to dig through to find such a prize.

truffles try to look like they were just dug up like buried treasures

I make my truffles with this ganache recipe that I talked about a bit ago. Spread the ganache from that recipe thin into freezer-proof trays and put it in the freezer. This time the bain marie is unavoidable. Melt some dark high-cacao level chocolate – something sultry in the above 70 percent range – in a stainless steel bowl over a pan with hot simmering water in it. It’s important that the bowl doesn’t actually touch the water. Leave it there for a while and then give it a stir with a spoon. If it comes together it’s ready.

Roll the now chilled ganache into balls and drop these into the chocolate (might want to let it cool a bit, off the pan, first). One way is to use a melon baller, but I tend to find two spoons work pretty well. Pluck out the coated ganache balls with a toothpick and drop them into another small bowl of cacao powder, rolling the bowl around until completely coated. Pluck again and drop on wax paper, and let them chill in the freezer until set. These keep for a long time, and are stupidly delicious. For wine pairing, red or semi-sweet sparkling (like, not brut) works equally well, but I tip towards one or the other depending on the ganache flavoring. I recommend Chambord flavored ganache with merlot or another red wine that has sweetness and berry tones like malbec. With something like Grand Marnier, you might want to try an Asti Spumante or a semi-seco cava - wine with a little sweetness always goes nicely with chocolate. So easy, yet amazing!