Truffe Au Chocolat – Chocolate Truffles
The inspiration to many of our culinary musings, his mother has given us countless recipes from her own archives. En français, of course. I hope one day I won’t mistakenly put ground beef in a mousse au chocolat recipe… “Oh! It said œuf (egg)? Not bœuf (beef)?!”
It’s always an adventure to translate the recipes from french to english. We frequently have extended discussions about it, mainly because I insist on challenging his expert knowledge of his native language. Sometimes we resort to making random long distance phone calls to his mother to settle our dispute.
For instance, sucre en poudre is granulated sugar. But my initial interpretation would assume that it would be powdered sugar since poudre actually means powder. And sucre glace is powdered sugar although glace means ice, which would lead me to believe that sucre glace is sugar crystals – granulated sugar. Je ne sais plus!
Alas, truffe au chocolat has been translated successfully, sans bœuf.
| 125 | grams Lindt 85% Dark Chocolate, broken in tiny pieces |
| 1 | egg yolk |
| 5 | Tbsp butter, softened at room temperature |
| 1 | Tbsp crème fraîche |
| 2 | Tbsp powdered sugar |
| 2 | Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder |
| 1/4 | cup finely chopped hazelnuts |
| 2 | tsp Myers Dark Rum or Cointreau |
- Using the bain marie method, melt the chocolate (do not stir!) in a bowl. Once the chocolate is melted, remove from heat and immediately stir in the egg yolk. Quickly add butter and stir until mixture is smooth and creamy. Next, add crème fraîche, powdered sugar and finally the alcohol. Mix thoroughly and refrigerate for one hour.
- Once your chocolate mixture is hard enough to mold, remove from refrigerator. Put cocoa powder and chopped hazelnuts in two separate bowls. Using two soup spoons, begin shaping your truffles into small spheres. After you’ve shaped your truffles, coat each one in either cocoa powder or the chopped hazelnuts. Return truffles to the refrigerator and keep chilled until ready to enjoy. Makes 10-12.
December 22nd, 2009 at 14:42
Wow!! I’m speechless… these truffles look so wonderful! And so pretty. What a great presentation!
December 22nd, 2009 at 15:08
Hmm those truffles look delicious! You have a beautiful blog, congratulations
December 22nd, 2009 at 16:30
@Sook: Thank you SO much for your kind words! You sure know how to make a girl feel good about herself
December 22nd, 2009 at 16:31
@Ben: Thank you! I’ve been trying to keep my boyfriend from devouring the truffles when I’m not looking. So sneaky…
December 22nd, 2009 at 16:51
They look delicious!
December 22nd, 2009 at 17:07
Dhale, your photography is terrific! These pictures should be framed!
December 22nd, 2009 at 17:14
@Vicky: I wasn’t a fan of dark chocolate until I had truffles. And these are so decadent that you only need one. So you feel less guilty
December 22nd, 2009 at 17:15
@Maggie: Thank you!!!! I’m afraid if we had food photos all over the apartment we’d eat more than we already do
December 23rd, 2009 at 08:11
Wow, I can’t believe you made these! When I saw the first picture I clicked on it to know where you bought such a beautiful treat! Great job! I hope I can make some like this soon!
December 23rd, 2009 at 12:00
@Simply Life: I hope you’ll have an opportunity to make these as well. You’ll have no problems making beautiful truffles and the recipe is so simple. Thanks you for the wonderful comments
Happy holidays!
December 31st, 2009 at 00:18
hey dhale! do you make your own crème fraîche from scratch or can this be store bought?
December 31st, 2009 at 09:38
@Theresa: I buy the crème fraîche from Trader Joe’s but if you can’t seem to track it down, you can always substitute it with heavy whipping cream and use the same amount.
Hope you have a great New Year!!!!
December 31st, 2009 at 09:54
They are all gone! We need another batch.
January 4th, 2010 at 12:51
The supply in Pearl River had been forgotten in the fridge until this weekend. You could have smuggled a few pieces from there
January 10th, 2010 at 13:53
These look very very delicious! I’ll be trying them tomorrow. Thanks for the simple recipe!
January 11th, 2010 at 11:15
@Layal: You’re very welcome! I’d love to hear how they turned out for you. Thanks for visiting
January 21st, 2010 at 11:16
Hi Dhale
Thank you very much for your truffes!
I have been a fanatic of truffes since I am very young (they were traditionnally offered during holidays).
Hence I can tell you that the ones you cooked for us really play in the same field of anthenticity , balance and savor as the best of the french pastries I had the chance to taste in my Paris home.
Now I am looking forward to testing any new plate
January 21st, 2010 at 14:06
@Severin: Great to see you on here! And glad you enjoyed the truffles. I was really excited that we made them for your two especially after you told us that you LOVED truffles when we were over for dinner. This weekend, brunch at chez nous
February 11th, 2010 at 19:05
Interesting recipe. I’ve never seen a truffle recipe with egg yolks in it. I must try this one out. Lovely photos.
February 11th, 2010 at 19:38
That first photo is stunning. What a wonderful recipe.
February 12th, 2010 at 09:45
@Memoria: Thanks! I’m quite fortunate to have my very own French recipe archive. They definitely do things a little differently from the American recipes that I’m used to.
February 12th, 2010 at 09:45
@Michelle: Thank you so much! Have a wonderful weekend!
January 5th, 2011 at 11:01
Thank you Dhale, I did truffles yersterday and it was amazing! They loved it at work…
January 5th, 2011 at 11:03
Thank you Dhale, I did truffles yesterday and it was amazing! They loved it at work…