Recipe: Truffles

YIELD: 2 dozen small truffles

Ingredients:
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10 ozs. high-quality bittersweet chocolate
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup coating or dipping powder (desiccated coconut, cocoa powder, very fine chopped nuts)
8 oz. bittersweet or a semisweet chocolate for this step


Making Truffles:
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Set aside some time to be around. There are cooling periods needed. And you will be mad at yourself for letting some of the stages cool too much if you happen to forget.

* Place the 10 oz. of chocolate and the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave it enough to melt both and mix together. It doesn't need to bubble, poof or do anything. You are just getting them to mix together. I usually do this in two stages of "zapping". Set it aside.

* Heat the corn syrup and cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Use a medium heat.

* After this simmers pour it over the chocolate mixture. Don't stir it yet. Let it sit about 2-4 minutes.

* After this has sat begin stirring from the middle of the bowl moving outward. (You will be less frustrated.) It blends easier this way.

* Pour this into a GLASS dish that will fit in your fridge. It's time to cool this whole mixture. So find a dish where the mixture will be in a layer no thicker than 1/3 of an inch.

* Leave this in the fridge approx an hour. Here's what is happening - the mixture is going to firm so you can scoop it into little balls. You can use a melon scoop for this.

* TIP: If you chilled too long I use these are the little tricks to soften this up and get back on track.
# Boil water in a big pot
# Pull the pot off the burner
# Put a cookie rack or something over the pot and place your glass baking dish on that.
# Let the steam warm the glass dish. Stay there until the mixture warms up so you can get back on track.

* After the cooling time is over, line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. You will scoop out the chocolate and drop a rough looking little ball onto the waxed paper.

* If you don't know how or what to scoop with...see below.

* After you have the rough looking not-even-close-to-truffles on the cookie sheet - place them in the fridge about 30 minutes.

* After 30 minutes take the truffles out of the refrigerator. You are now going to form them into balls. No way out of it, you have to use your hands.

* Now that they look almost round place them into the refrigerator again.

* Leave them in the fridge until they are totally cooled.

* Put the dipping coating in a small bowl.

* Melt the 8 oz. of chocolate. ( Don't get this hot! Just get it barely melted.)

* Roll the truffles in the melted chocolate first.

* Then, roll the truffles into your dipping coating.

* Put the truffles on a flat surface so they set up.

* You should be done.

* Put them into some pretty little papers for gift giving or serving.