Friday, January 21, 2011

Peanut Butter Truffles


Poor, neglected blog. I made these tasty buggers over the holidays, way back in December. Chocolate-Peanut Butter ganache dipped in even more chocolate. Very rich. I used a 70% cocoa dark chocolate in the ganache, which I found to fight too much with the flavour of the peanut butter, I would recommend using a semi-sweet chocolate instead for a milder chocolate flavour.

I didn't count how many truffles this recipe yielded,  though the smaller you make the truffles, the more you get! Ganache is adapted from here.

Ganache
  • 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup heavy/whipping cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Coating

  • 8 ounces dark, high quality chocolate, chopped
  • Chopped peanuts, for topping (Optional)

-Place the peanut butter and chocolate into a heat proof bowl.

-Heat the whipping cream and vanilla until simmering. Pour over chocolate and peanut butter and let sit until chocolate is mostly melted.

-Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

-Place ganache into fridge for 30 minutes until set and cool, but still easy enough to work with.

-Roll ganache into balls, less than an inch in diameter.

-Put the truffles into the fridge for a couple of hours. The cooler they are when dipping, the better they stay together. A bit of ganache melted into the chocolate you are dipping into will ruin your chocolate.

-Melt the rest of the chocolate over a double broiler, making sure the water in the bottom of the double broiler does not touch the bowl with the chocolate. Stir very often, chocolate is very delicate to work with.

-Let the chocolate cool as to not melt the ganache. Around room temperature works, though the cooler the chocolate gets, the more solid it becomes, so work fast.

-Dip ganache balls, shaking off excess chocolate.

-Top with chopped peanuts while truffles are still malleable.

-Leave in fridge again for another few hours to set, then store at room temperature.