Chocolate Truffles

250ml double cream
50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
275g dark chocolate (minimum 60% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
4tbsp rum
50g cocoa powder

Place the chocolate and butter in a large bowl. Bring the cream to a boil, and pour it over the chocolate and butter. Stir gently till the chocolate has melted, trying not to create bubbles, then stir in the rum.
Place the bowl in the fridge to firm up, removing it about 15 min before you want to use it.
Put the cocoa into a bowl. Ensure your hands are cold and dry, then dust them with cocoa. Take spoonfuls of the mixture (use a tsp or a tbsp) and roll the mixture into a ball in your cocoa dusted hands. Drop each truffle into the bowl of cocoa, turn it around, then toss it in your hands to remove any excess powder. The truffles can be returned to he fridge, and kept for up to 2 days, as long as they are stored in an air tight container.

I looked around at a bunch of recipes for truffles, and they all looked pretty similar. I wound up going with the one in James Martin - Desserts.

I was not having terribly good luck making candy. So I thought I would try making chocolates instead for the time being. It’s way easier. It’s so easy, as a matter of fact, that I recommend that everybody try it once. They look really impressive, and they taste delicious.

I tried a few different flavors. I split the mix into four bowls and did one rum, one calvados, one espresso, and one plain. For the espresso one I mixed a little instant espresso powder with a Tbsp of boiling water, and added the liquid.

They were all good, but the flavor wasn’t very strong on any of them. Next time I will either leave them plain (which was really good), or add more/stronger flavor.

These were so good, the only downside was that my husband and I ate a bunch of the espresso ones right before bed by accident. They do not make for a good night’s sleep.