To satisfy my chocolate craving I decided to make chocolate truffles. I've made truffles in the past and have always loved thinking of new flavors for ganache and other fillings. This time I tried my hand in incorporating "praline" into the ganache, which is simply caramelized nuts. You can make the ratio of nuts to sugar however high you would like depending on how strong of a nut flavor you need (most of the time you see it either 1:1 or 2:1 nuts to sugar). In this recipe I went with a 2:1 sugar to nut praline because I was able to get a strong nut flavor from infusing the roasted almond flavor in the heavy cream for the ganache.
Never have made praline before, I wasn't sure if I wanted to make it into a praline paste or grind it up and fold it into the warm ganache for some texture. I tried to form a paste but wasn't very successful (I'm going to have to work on it), so I decided to use the ground nuts to fold into the ganache.
Tempering and coating truffles in chocolate has always been tough for me, I have yet to master either! I'm definitely looking forward to learning more about tempering and what the best way to coat the chocolate is. For this recipe I tried wearing tight rubber gloves, pouring a little puddle of melted, tempered chocolate (attempted) into my palm and rolling a ball of ganache into the chocolate to coat it. I got the hang of it after a few but my coating still isn't the best; perhaps once I temper my chocolate well and get the technique down I'll finally get it!
While I work on getting this even better, try this recipe out! It combines praline and chocolate for a delicious bite.
Chocolate Almond Praline Truffles
Ganache:
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup slice almonds (toasted until fragrant)
- 6-8 ounces of white chocolate, chopped or chips (if using chips measure between 1 and 1 1/4 cups)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 tablespoon honey
- 11-12 ounces of bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped, for coating
- 1/2 cup whole almonds, toasted, roughly chopped (preferably blanched, but it's okay if they have the skin on)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- Water
To Prepare the Ganache:
(For best results prepare the night before the night before)
- Combine heavy cream, almonds, salt, and honey in a saucepan -- bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
- When it comes to a boil, remove from heat and infuse the almond flavor by letting it come to room temperature, then covering and placing in refrigerator overnight (if you need to make them quick, have the cream at least rest for a couple hours).
- When the heavy cream has chilled for long enough, strain the mixture through a chinois or a fine mesh strainer to remove the soaked almonds -- you should be left with around 1/3 - 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, melt the white chocolate over a double boiler then gently whisk in the heavy cream.
- While still warm, quickly fold in 3/4 cup of the ground praline. Set the ganache aside at room temperature for 2 hours, then cover the surface with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour to set.
- After well-chilled remove from refrigerator and using a melon baller scoop the ganache and roll each into balls, placing on parchment paper. Repeat with rest of ganache and chill until ready to use.
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Ganache (after step 6) |
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Ganache (after step 5) |
To Prepare the Praline:
Before preparing line a baking sheet with parchment paper, lightly oiled.
- Caramel -- Combine the sugar and enough water to make a "sandy mixture" with the sugar in a heavy-bottom saucepan. Have a side bowl of water and a brush to wipe down the sides of the saucepan.
- Cook the caramel over medium heat brushing splattered sugar from the sides of the saucepan with a wet brush as it cooks.
- Once caramel comes to a boil DO NOT STIR! It will recrystallize the sugar and take even longer for the caramel to form. Let the caramel cook to an amber color, then quickly stir in the toasted almonds to coat, remove from heat, and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Now you have your praline!
- When completely cooled, break the praline into small pieces and grind in small batches in the food processor until ground to a fine meal.
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| Ground Praline |
For Chocolate Coating:
- To Temper -- Bring 2-inches of water to a boil, take off heat and melt 2/3 of the chocolate over a double-boiler in a heat-proof bowl until it has reached 118-122 degrees fahrenheit. Remove from heat and add the remaining chocolate by handfuls, stirring to melt, until the temperature has reached 85 degrees for milk chocolate OR 89-90 degrees for dark chocolate. If chocolate becomes too cool as you add the rest of your chocolate, you can set it back over the double boiler for 5-second intervals to get it to the desired temperature. (You can test the temper by using the edge of parchment paper to dip in chocolate, set aside to cool for about 2 minutes until dry and shiny).
- As you are finishing the temper, remove the ganache from the refrigerator, put on tight rubber gloves and place a small pool of the melted chocolate in your palm and rub the balls of ganache in the chocolate to put apply a thin first coat, then place each on parchment to part-dry. Do only a few more with the remaining ganache to ensure that the first coat only partly dries in preparation for the next coating. This will be your first batch.
- Take the freshly coated truffles and add a second coat by using a fork to drop in the tempered chocolate to coat and tapping the fork on the edge of the bowl to take off excess chocolate and carefully roll onto parchment to dry completely. Repeat with the remaining ganache, in batches. *If the chocolate becomes too cool, reheat to the right temperature mentioned earlier.
- If desired, melt extra white chocolate to put designs on the coated truffles.
These can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
More truffle variations coming soon...
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