Trials and Tribulations of My First Holiday Cookie Bake-Athon Part 3- Chocolate Truffles… with Peanut Butter??

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The third installation of my Cookie Bake-athon is not exactly a cookie. Chocolate truffles! I decided to make Ina Garten’s chocolate truffles because they looked easy and this is my first time making truffles. The recipe can be found here.

P1030420_web The ingredient list: Chocolate! And lots of it! I used half a pound of bittersweet 70% dark chocolate and half a pound of this heavenly dark milk chocolate from Africa or South America. OH MY F*ing G*D! It was the best chocolate I have ever had. I got it at Whole Food Markets and I couldn’t stop eating the little pieces as I was chopping it up. I still dream about that chocolate at night…it was that good!

Mmmmm……chocolate. Oh…where was I? Oh yeah, the ingredients. I also used heavy whipping cream, some instant coffee, and vanilla extract. Ina’s recipe also calls for Grand Marnier, which I do not have, so I did not use any. I’m sure any type of liquor would be very good in this.

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So I chopped up the chocolate…..sneaking little bitty bits for myself…

truffles_1 Then I heated the cream in a pan until just boiling and poured it over the chocolate.

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I gave it a stir with a whisk until it was dark and creamy….and used all my willpower not to drink it from the bowl.

truffles_3 Then I added my coffee (as you can see that is way more than 1 tablespoon, and my vanilla (way way more than 1/2 teaspoon) and stirred it all together until combine.

I have a tendency to add way too much flavor to my baked goods. It calls for a teaspoon of cinnamon and I add a tablespoon, 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla and I add two tablespoons, a touch of wine and I add the whole bottle! I dunno why I do it, I guess I just like my flavors to be intense! Or maybe my sense of taste is bad?

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Anyways, I let the ganache cool at room temperature for an hour and when I tried to roll it it was too mushy. Oh no! Too much liquid! Well crap! I used all my good chocolate! What am I going to do now? How am I going to fix it?

truffles_5 Frantically I tore apart the kitchen and found the only chocolate left in the house…mini chocolate chips and Reese's cups! I was desperate so I threw them both in, remelted the chocolate, and whisked until smooth, hoping, praying to the Gods that I had not ruined my beautiful truffles.

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Well it worked, I was able to get my ganache rolled into balls, after refrigerating the ganache for three hours! And boy did I make a mess of myself while I rolled those balls! I had fun licking all the chocolate off my hands though! Mmmmm peanut buttery chocolate! I was surprised how pronounced the peanut butter was considering how much chocolate it was mixed wit. It was actually quite good, very good! I couldn’t stop licking myself!

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Once my balls were rolled (he he) I threw them in the freezer to harden then rolled them in some sweetened cocoa and prayed they would not melt into gobs of goo before they were given out as gifts.

6 comments:

Elle said...

Those look incredible! And with pb cups in there? I'd say pretty close to perect!

Anonymous said...

What lucky recipients, to get so many great-looking sweet treats! :)

Megan said...

Wow - you have certainly been a busy girl with all the baking / creating going on! I've made Ina's truffles before but adding pb cups was a stroke of genius. Well, then again, I love pb and chocolate anytime so it's always a winner in my book!

Anonymous said...

You did it! It's so frustrating when something crazy happens with what you are making, and SO satisfying when you work it out. I bet the peanut butter truffles were divine!

Anonymous said...

wow you're my kind of girl - you talk about fitness plus GOOD eating (not boring, bran-flake eating). plus you added peanut butter to this recipe. nice one!

Anonymous said...

Holy hell send a box over PLEASE. Everything looks so good.