How to Make the Best Chocolate Truffles
These chocolate truffles are rich, creamy and smooth. After years of making chocolate truffles with chocolate and cream, we stumbled across a recipe that replaces the cream and uses egg yolks instead. Bowl after bowl of decadent melted chocolate and lots of truffles later, we’ve come to the conclusion that this, without fail, is the best chocolate truffles recipe. The inspiration for these truffles comes from Alice Medrich. She’s a chocolate genius! We’ve shared our love of her recipes before. Take a look at our spin on these Fudgy Cocoa Brownies. There are lots of chocolate truffles recipes out there and they often call for the same ingredients: Chocolate and cream. This recipe is a little different. Instead of heavy cream, we mix egg yolks and butter into melted bittersweet chocolate. The egg and butter make the texture of the truffles far superior to the truffles made with cream. Everyone we’ve shared them with absolutely fall in love with them. For the best chocolate truffles, use high quality chocolate. Look for chocolate that’s around 60% Cacao or more. A few brands we love using in our own kitchen are Ghirardelli, Callebaut, and Scharffen Berger. Since we don’t want to add raw egg to our truffles, we add one quick step. We whisk the egg yolks with boiling water before adding to the chocolate. This step makes sure that the eggs are brought up to an appropriate temperature (160 degrees F), making the safe to eat. The truffles are very easy to make and can be made two ways: by hand or with a food processor. You’ll find instructions for both methods below in the recipe. The truffles made in the food processor are a little creamier than those made by hand. Recipe updated, originally posted December 2012. Since posting this in 2013, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear and added a quick recipe video. – Adam and Joanne There are two methods you can choose from when making these truffles: By hand or with the help of a food processor. Both are easy to do. You’ll find instructions for both methods below. The truffles made in the food processor are a little creamier. 10 tablespoons (140 grams) unsalted butter, cut into chunks (1 1/4 sticks) 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt 2 egg yolks, at room temperature (see note) 1/3 cup (25 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder 2Add chopped chocolate, butter, and the salt to a medium heat-safe bowl. Place a medium saucepan half-full with water over low heat. Heat the water until barely simmering. 3Rest the bowl with chocolate and butter on top of saucepan. Heat the chocolate and butter, stirring frequently, until completely melted; about 5 minutes. When the chocolate is melted, smooth and very warm, remove the bowl from the heat and place onto a work surface. If you have a thermometer handy, the temperature of the chocolate mixture should be between 120 and 130 degrees F. 2Beat about 10 times, scrape the bowl, and then beat 20 to 30 more times until the chocolate mixture has thickened slightly and looks like shiny chocolate pudding. Scrape the chocolate truffle mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Refrigerate until firm. About 2 hours. 2For round truffles, dust your hands with cocoa powder then roll each 1-inch truffle square into a ball and toss in cocoa powder until coated. Store truffles in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
