Recently, I had the craving to make some chocolate truffles.  With chocolate, it's hard to make just a little, so I went through 8 pounds of chocolate.  When planning, I checked around to make sure dark chocolate would be the prime chocolate, and it turned out that only one person wanted milk chocolate.  This did give me a chance to make milk chocolate truffles for the first time.

I started with a mix of Trader Joes large chocolate bars (72%) and some Calebut chocolate chunks that I had from buying back in Feburary and stored in a cool, dark, sealed bin for emergencies.

Dark Chocolate Truffle Base
For every 8 ounces of dark chocolate, I used 8 ounces of heavy cream.  I created 2 pound batches (32 oz), or rather, slightly extra because the Trader Joes bars were over 16 oz per bar.
Step 1) I chopped the chocolate into small bits and put them into a large bowl.
Step 2) I heated the heavy cream until it was simmering but not boiling.
Step 3) I poured the cream over the chocolate and let it sit for a few seconds and started stirring and folding with a silicone spatula.


Milk chocolate truffle base
I used 24 oz chocolate and 8 oz cream for this one and used the same methods as the dark chocolate truffles.


For the first batch, I used 4 oz of Grand Mariner and 4 oz of Cointreau' and several (I didn't measure oddly enough, I think it was 4) teaspoons of cinnamon.  This just wasn't orange enough, so for a second batch I added half a teaspoon of orange extract to get a bolder orange candy flavor.  

The third batch used 4 oz of peppermint schnapps.  I would have preferred a mix of peppermint schnapps and extract because like the first batch, the flavor was not prominent enough.

The fourth batch used a combination of cinnamon, 2 tablespoons honey (which was heated with the cream), 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, cayenne pepper and ancho pepper.  I believe I used approximately 4 teaspoons of cayenne, 4 teaspoons of ancho and 4 teaspoons of cinnamon.

The mixtures were then covered and left to cool for a few hours at room temperature, or in a cold environment (the fridge, or this time of year, outside in 32 degree F weather).  I also tried pouring a few batches into ziploc bags and cooling.

After the chocolate had cooled to the point of being malleable without flowing, I scooped small balls (1 tablespoon, or 1 inch diameter) using a cookie scoop and deposited them on parchment paper.  The ones in bags were easier, because I snipped off a corner of the bag, and piped out the chocolate into small piles and eventually, gave up and just piped it out in long logs.  I let these cool a bit as well.

When the chocolate was slightly more firm, I covered my hands in gloves and rolled the chocolate into balls. The logs were sliced with a sharp knife and then rolled into balls.  The heat of a persons hands will make these melt a little and form, but also makes the chocolate a little too warm to work with, so these cooled as well.

Finally, they were rolled in cocoa powder, or in the case of the orange cinnamon truffles, a mix of cinnamon and cocoa powder.  They could also have been dipped in tempered chocolate, but I chose not to do that this time.

They were then separated into bags and given away for people to eat.  It appears people loved them, and some wound up eating 8 a night.  I ruined many a diet these past few days.

People liked the stronger orange flavored truffles and many loved the pepper truffles.  They weren't spicy up front, but would leave a lingering burn after being eaten, usually in the throat.  Some people who would eat theirs slower would feel it in their mouth.

In retrospect, the pepper should have steeped in the cream for a while to really get the pepper to release into the cream and bring forth a more forward pepper taste.

I recommend people use a truffle or three in hot milk to make a hot chocolate.

I only made one batch of milk chocolate truffles, orange-cinnamon.  The difference with this one, is that it uses less cream due to the existing milk content.

I expect to get another truffle craving in February and perhaps try white chocolate truffles for a few people.

It's been half a year and surprisingly, I haven't really done too many projects related to anything gluten free.  In fact, my meals have been very simple and somewhat scary in their repetitiveness.  In a large part, it's been, baked chicken with some sort of seasoning, some rice and sauteed vegetable.  I haven't been drinking a lot of beer either.  In fact, it took until the week after thanksgiving to finally give some away.

Back in July, I made another two batches of Orange Coriander beer and then, didn't touch it for months and didn't even write about it.  I kegged one, and stuck it into the fridge for months, the other sat in the primary fermenter (a big bucket) until a week or two ago.  I gave away several gallons, emptying the keg, and refilled it with the other orange coriander.  An interesting result was that both had lost nearly all their orange and coriander flavor, but had also lost a lot of it's sorghum flavor.  I also put on one of the spiced pumpkin beers from last year.  No trace of spices whatsoever, but again, no off flavors of sorghum.  I'm considering that a good idea for extracts is to make a generic beer base, and then a few months later adding flavoring components and then later kegging it.  This is of course assuming that I, or others, will be drinking it within a reasonable amount of time.

I've barely had any of the sangria mentioned in the last post, I believe I've given away maybe a gallon's worth and had a few glasses on my own during the summer.  It actually turned out quite well, not as sugary/syrupy/cloyingly sweet as I would have expected.  The downside was that I really did not do a side by side test with a batch that I didn't modify.  I expect that someday, when I find more drinkers, I'll do a side by side and see who likes which versions.   And yes... in 6 months, I still have 3-4 gallons of sangria remaining.

I *still* have the cranberry mead from last year sitting in a carboy in the spare bathtub.  I will soon be kegging this, after I've washed out the beer fridge, the moisture and temperature causes mold to grow and I still need to modify to include better airflow and less clutter.

Once the tub is clear, I expect to set up a multi-tiered spraying assembly along with some form (probably ceramic) heat lamps so I can try sprouting some sorghum this way.  The problem is that I don't quite know what the temperature will get up to with heatlamps and how many I would need.  Troubling since due to some car payments, I haven't been able to buy the equipment anyways.  (The car has actually been one of the reasons I haven't been doing as many projects).

In the past week or two, I've had a craving for truffles, so I made several batches, which I will explain in the next post, along with what I think I would do differently next time.