One year while visiting my parents for Christmas we decided to make chocolate truffles. My brother had found a recipe and wanted to try them out. Since my son LOVES chocolate I decided to make some gluten and dairy free. The trick was to find chocolate that is dairy free. Generally you have to go to a health food store to find chocolate chips or bars that are 100% dairy free, not manufactured on equipment that processes dairy or wheat for that matter. They were very yummy and there wasn't much difference between the dairy free ones and the ones made with cream. The chocolate with the hint of orange and the Grand Marnier is the over riding flavor. I like truffles with the smooth, creamy texture of the ganache in the middle. My brother gave some away to friends. Which was a good thing because we had tons. A week at my parents and I am sure to gain at least 5 pounds so 3 dozen truffles is not something I need hanging around waiting for me to work my way through.
Here is what I came up with. You can prepare them two ways. Read though instructions to decided which way you want to make them. I like the first chocolate mold method personally. Make some of both.
For Ganache
8 ounces Dark Semisweet Chocolate (for the ganache)
1/3 cup Tofutti Better than cream cheese
1/3 cup Vanilla Soy Milk
1 orange peel, zested
1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier
8 to 12 ounces Dark Semisweet Chocolate (the amount you will need depends on the size of your molds and how thickly you line them with the chocolate.)
Chop 8 ounces of the dark chocolate and place in a heat-resistant bowl and set aside.
Blend cream cheese and soy milk till smooth. Add orange peel and bring to a boil in a small sauce pan. Pour cream cheese, soy milk and orange mixture over chocolate and let it sit for a couple of minutes until the chocolate is soft. Gently whisk together, do not beat it. Start in the center and work out until smooth. Add Grand Marnier and stir to blend. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature until chocolate ganache is thick enough to hold its shape. This will take about 2 hours.
I bought some holiday chocolate molds. So that my truffles looked like little packages. Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Use a new clean paintbrush to brush the inside of the chocolate molds with chocolate. You want to create a shell. Make sure to try to get an even layer. Use the brush to make sure to get the chocolate into all the details of the mold so you don't end up with air bubbles. If you have more than one set of molds this will go faster. Let the chocolate harden.
Place ganache in a pastry bag with a 3/8" tip or a zip lock bag with one corner cut off to make a 3/8" opening. Pipe ganache into the chocolate molds you coated with chocolate. Fill the molds most of the way. You will need to leave room to cover with chocolate.
Cover ganache with chocolate and let cool. Once they have cooled and hardened pop out of molds. Enjoy, if you have some left, store at room temperature in an airtight container.
Another method for chocolate truffles is: (I think this is best made with a friend. One to coat the ganache in chocolate and one to coat with cocoa powder. My brother and I had fun making these together.)
You will need:
3 ounces Dark Semisweet Chocolate
2/3 cup Cocoa Powder (if you plan to not use molds)gloves and parchment or waxed paper
Instead of filling chocolate shells with the ganache you can pipe the ganache into mounds about 3/4" high and 3/4" wide on parchment paper (or wax paper) lined baking sheets. Refrigerate sheets until ganache is firm, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt 3 more ounces of chocolate and put cocoa powder in another small bowl. Put on surgical gloves and spoon melted chocolate into palm of one hand, then carefully place each truffle in your palm and rotate to coat. Place chocolate-coated truffles in bowl of cocoa powder and gently toss with a fork to lightly coat. Place truffles in an airtight container and store at room temperature.
This yields about 3 dozen truffles.
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