By Christie Vanover | Published December 9, 2010 | Last Updated January 17, 2015
I love baking, and Christmas gives me the perfect excuse to throw flour everywhere. But before I plan my annual holiday treat boxes, I’m preparing for my sister’s baby shower. She’s due with her first child in January, and her husband is about to deploy, so I want to make this extra special for her. Next to her husband, one of her greatest loves is chocolate. Fortunately, I brought a lot of chocolate back from Belgium, so I knew it was the perfect opportunity to make my dark chocolate Belgian chocolate truffles.
Chocolate is basically made up of cocoa mass, cocoa butter and sugar. Cocoa mass is a product created after cocoa beans have been roasted, crushed and milled. For milk chocolate, they add milk powder and for white chocolate…well can you even really call that chocolate?
When you look at the ingredients in most American chocolate, the first ingredient is chocolate. I’m not really sure what that means. Is it cocoa mass, or is it something the factories have created? Hmmm. The rest of the ingredients match up with true chocolate…cocoa butter, sugar and then wait…where did that milk fat, lactose and artificial flavoring come from? The fat of true chocolate should come from the natural fat of the cocoa bean – the cocoa butter.
From the flavor of the cocoa mass to the melting of the cocoa butter on your tongue, real chocolate lovers want the real chocolate taste through and through…so I guess that’s why chocoholics go crazy for Belgian chocolate.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons flavoring (vanilla, raspberry liqueur, baileys)
- Chocolate sprinkles
Place chocolate in a bowl. Bring cream to a boil in a small, heavy saucepan. Pour cream over chocolate. Let stand for 3 to 5 minutes; gently stir until smooth. Add liqueur and stir to combine. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours. If you chill it longer, it might get too hard, which is fine, just let it sit out for about 15-20 minutes.
Using a spoon, scoop up about 1 teaspoon of chocolate, and quickly roll into a ball about ¾ inch in diameter. Roll each truffle in sprinkles to coat. Chill until firm. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
https://www.zestuous.com/belgian-dark-chocolate-truffles/
lori says
These look awesome and the possibilities are endless. I’ll be giving these a go for the holidays!! Thanks for posting.
Anonymous says
There is absolutely no way truffles are this simple to make? Thanks for all the info on chocolate. Dark chocolate is my favorite!
Anonymous says
Give it a shot Anonymous. I hope you’re as pleasantly surprised as I was. You can change the flavor up based on the flavoring you use and the ingredients you roll the truffle in.