White Chocolate Truffles

Just so you know, this isn't chocolate. White stuff was invented by Albert Nestlé to deal with the surplus cocoa butter that was left over from his dry process cocoa recipe. He tried face cream first. There are some who wax all poetic about the qualities and better "mouth feel" that comes from using a white block of stuff that contains a higher cocoa butter ratio, although I've never been able to either sense a difference or really found anyone who could reliably tell the difference between high end expensive stuff and the stuff you buy at a cake decorating store.

For the ganache of the white chocolate truffles I bought white chocolate chips, house brand, on sale. For the shells I used Mercken white dots which I got from the cake decorating store.

INGREDIENTS FOR WHITE GANACHE

3 pounds white chocolate chips
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped.
3/4 pound of sweet butter
6 egg yolks
1/3 cup water

variation (which is the process pictured)

instead of the vanilla bean and the water use

1/3 cup good bourbon vanilla extract
1 pint raspberries (fresh or frozen doesn't matter)

In the mixing bowl of a high power stand mixer melt the white chocolate, butter and vanilla bean (put the hulls in, you can remove them later) over simmering water, take care not to allow any splashing, even white chocolate hates water. If doing the raspberry version forget the bean.


When the white chips and the butter are completely melted bring it over to the stand mixer and begin to stir with the paddle on the lowest setting. Add the egg yolks one at a time. At this stage it will look like everything's gone to hell. First it will curdle with an oily goop surrounding the curds, but don't despair. Soon it will begin to form a liason that will be quite a bit smoother.

At this time you add the vanilla extract, and things will tighten right up. Add in the raspberries and whip on the highest setting for a minimum of ten minutes.

Pour into a plastic wrap (I adore Press'n'Seal for this stuff) lined pan. Cover closely, and refrigerate overnight. Roll them into balls that will fit five across in an eight inch pan. Put some white chocolate chips or chopped up bits in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for thirty seconds. Stir. Thirty seconds again. Stir. Then give it 10 seconds at a time until completely melted. (you can stop the process when it's down to small chunks, just keep stirring until it's smooth and totally melted) You don't want the chocolate too hot, it should be thick and liquid.

Dunk the truffle balls into the melted chocolate, cover well with the coating. Put onto a cutting board covered with butcher paper and let the shell harden slowly. Stripe with extra white chocolate (or any other color of stuff that suits you) I'll explain the reason for the striping in the next post about dipping and stuff. There really is a reason beyond decoration.

3B's