Chocolate Fudge Butterfly Truffles

Well, I've certainly failed to deliver in the weekly-basis offerings, haven't I? It's felt like an eternity since I was able to update, and I think it's been about three or four weeks. How sad! Well, this week, since Valentines Day just passed and Easter is around the corner, I'm providing you with a delicious, simple recipe for truffles. Delicious, dense, fudgey chocolate truffles encased in even more rich bittersweet chocolate.
Sounds wonderful, right?
Indeed. And they're even more wonderful when they're done right, which failed to happen when I made this recipe in my culinary class, resulting in the truffles swirling with the outer coating and making a general mess. Not my fault.
So I decided to do them again at home this weekend, and I would do them right, without the time restraints my group had in class. And sans people who don't follow directions. But I won't delve any further.
I'm also making them because my parents took a trip to Nevada this weekend, and I thought I'd make something nice for them to return to. Aren't I just the best daughter ever? ;)

I also dressed my truffles up a bit. The ones we did in class were simply balls coated in chocolate. I decided to sprinkle on some of my pink pearls, chocolate sprinkles, and I made almond-sliver butterflies to top some of the truffles, hence the 'butterfly truffle' name.

Are those strawberry marshmallows adorable, or what? :D

The truffle filling is basically a ganache with a little corn syrup and butter:

• 10 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped finely. (Or you can use chips).

• 1/2 c. heavy cream

• 1 T. corn syrup

• 3 T unsalted butter

Simmer the heavy cream and corn syrup in a sauce pan. Once simmering, pour over the chocolate chips and butter. Let sit for about 3 minutes, then stir gently, so you don't slosh cream and chocolate all over your kitchen.

Here, you can add all sorts of wonderful things to your ganache to make it taste even more fantastic: mint extract, orange extract, amaretto, rum, brandy, coconut extract, or any other flavoring you wish. If you add alcohol, add 1/4 cup and stir in slowly, again, so you don't slosh everything and make a giant mess. Also, the alcohol in the ganache will keep it from freezing solid, so if you store these in the freezer, you can just pull them out and devour them right away instead of waiting for the center to soften.
I didn't add any flavors to mine because I am sharing them with some friends, and I'm not sure if they like chocolate and orange paired together. I do. :)

Melted wonderfulness.

Once your filling is all mixed together, pour it into a flat glass casserole dish or sheet/brownie pan. Place it in the freezer until it is set.

After about 1-2 hours, the ganache will be frozen solid (unless you added alcohol, then it will be set and solid)
Remove from freezer and let thaw a few minutes until you can scoop it fairly easily and roll it into small balls about the size of a marble.
*Having a melon baller helps make your balls rounder. I used a spoon, so mine are a little lumpy. But I was able to mold a couple of them into hearts that way :)
Place your rolled ganache orbs onto a parchment-paper lined baking sheet.
When you have finished scooping, put the balls back in the freezer for several hours, or over night.

Coating

Classy!

10 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped (or chips)

Melt either in a microwave or double boiler.
If you're using a double boiler, just be careful not to get ANY water in the chocolate. A single drop could ruin everything!
It helps if you use a thermometer to make sure your chocolate stays between 92 and 94 degrees fahrenheit. This ensures a hard outer shell for your truffles. I used a meat thermometer, and I'm pretty sure my chocolate was closer to 98 degrees, but my shells were still nice and hard.
If you use a double boiler, remove the pot holding the chocolate from the heating pot once your chocolate is half-way melted. This will ensure it doesn't get too hot.
Now go get your truffle centers from the freezer! Since they will be nicely frozen, they won't melt all over into your coating. You can use an ice cream scoop to scoop up some of the melted chocolate, then drop your truffle center into that and roll it around to coat it without putting it into the actual pot, risking melting.
Place the coated truffles back on the parchment they were frozen on. I discovered that since the pan is still very, very cold, the coatings set up very, very quickly. Therefore, decorate them as soon as you place them on the pan! You can use chopped nuts, sprinkles, cocoa, cinnamon sugar, coconut, or slivered almonds to decorated them. You can roll them completely in the coatings, or you can just sprinkle the coatings on top, like I did.

You can see here that the outer shell and inside are distinctly separated!

If your coating is hard and set because of your cold pan, then you can go ahead and enjoy! If not, store them in the freezer until it is hard.
Store them in the freezer so that condensation doesn't build up like it would in the refrigerator and drip all over your truffles. When you are ready to serve them, remove them and let them come to room temperature to soften the centers.
I hope you enjoy this recipe, and share it with your friends and family over the next couple of chocolate-filled months. I can guarantee they will love you even more than they already do if you make this for them. :)