Continuing the theme on chocolate desserts from Francois Payard, 
I also made the delicious truffles you see here from one of his recipes. It was a bit of a pain in the neck but the results were well worth the effort. It appears pricey but it goes a long way, in my case, the recipe made so many truffles they easily served four different dinners of 8 guests each and had several truffles to spare as well. To make, finely chop ½ kilo or 500 grams of good bittersweet chocolate and add 50 grams or about 2.5 tablespoons of light corn syrup such as Karo brand. Bring 2 cups of heavy cream to a boil and pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of cognac or armagnac and let cool to room temperature with an occasional stir.
Place the chocolate mixture in the refrigerator stirring occasionally 
until the consistency of pudding, roughly 30 minutes or more in our tropical heat. I actually turned on the airconditioner in the kitchen when I made this to help the chocolate get cooler quicker. Next line baking sheets with parchment paper and take the cooled chocolate and pipe them in a pastry bag into small bite-sized mounds. Chill the pans of chocolate mounds for 20 minutes until firm. Finally, you need to coat the truffles by melting ¼ kilo of bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler. Place 2 cups of good unsweetened or dutch process cocoa powder in a small bowl. Then take the chocolate mounds out of the fridge, quickly dip in the warm chocolate and roll in the cocoa. Store the truffles in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. These don’t look as professional as store bought truffles but they were absolutely delicious. I used nearly a kilo of top-quality Valrhona to make my truffles and it really showed in the final product.
11 Responses
The stress of all the holiday cooking is getting to you MM. Several of the recipes seem to hit your stress points (pains in the butt and the neck). Highly recommend going to the flower market, buy lots of nice flowers and relax with a cup of tea, or coffee.
Love the chocolate though. Jacques Torres makes it look so easy, but yours looks real. Thanks!
Yum! Love chocolate truffles :) Agree that the quality of the chocolate is really important…this is different from the recipe I got so I’ll keep this for my future truffles. I like the way they look…for me chocolate truffles should look like odd lumps (just like the real truffle) :)
love making truffles, but no corn syrup for me please. curious, where did you get the recipe?
whoops, sorry, my mistake. i see now your recipe comes from payard. i don’t remember seeing this in my payard book, could it be a different one?
stef, it’s almost at the end of the book “Simply Sensational Desserts” by Francois Payard. I find I use the book very often for chocolate based desserts. The recipes really work and if you start with good quality ingredients they are almost fool-proof… mila and joey, they do look very “rustic” like the neighborhood hog dug them up…heehee.
I used to make Chocolate truffles especially during Valentine. It was such a tedious process. I learned it from a class. We had to roll out each piece by teaspoonfulls and drop them in cocoa powder. After which we had to “temper” the chocolate and coat each piece. Te tempering process was hideous and keeping it at a certain temperature was a nightmare. I stopped altogether and decided to just buy and savor them without the hassle although the satisfaction was not the same.Now when family members ask me to do it I just smile and tell them it’s not worth my time and energy.
But yours seem so much simpler and perhaps I might give it a shot again. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
i would die for one of these right now!
i used to buy these from a swiss couple who opened a choc shop in kuala lumpur. they made fresh chocs for sale. these were expensive, of course, and not many could appreciate them. to me, it was a dream come true each time i visited their shop, like a kid let loose in a candy store! :)
what a coincidence! i just made a bunch of truffles myself. it’s been years since i made some because they ARE pretty tedious to make. well not exactly that tedious, but it does require some patience and a cooler body temp! :D i didn’t even use ganache anymore for this batch and simply rolled them in cocoa powder, chopped roasted almonds and walnuts, and sweetened coconut. never mind if your truffles don’t look professional MM. the more “rustic” the better. anyway these chocolate truffles are supposed to mimic the real truffles, with the cocoa powder mimicking the dirt they’re usually found in. :)
it looks super yummy! : ) i make truffles too. they are tedious to make but worth it. i make mine by making toffee first and then i sandwich it between two small scoops of ganache. they look like disfigured brown creatures from the deep blue sea but they are absolutely delicious. i’ll try out your recipe.
oh, by the way, i baked your ensaimada recipe and it is delicious! MEGA! it had the right crunch with the toasted crust and the caramelized sugar. the soft and chewy center mixes in with the taste of the butter and sugar. i loaded them up with extra sharp cheddar cheese and it’s soooo yummy. THANKS! i was able to make 20 huge pieces and i got to eat only one. the rest were taken away by my friends and cousins who were ?accidentally? at my place for a visit. hmmm…maybe they had an inkling i was baking.
maria, so glad to hear the recipe worked for you…I have this fear that 12 folks will leave a comment that it was an absolute disaster!
sorry, but where can one buy Karo syrup nowadays? I cant find it in any of the grocery stores. Not even Killon has it in stock…. (sorry, i’ve been going through the archives)