Truffle Recipe, Courtesy of Miranda of M.Shanti Photo

Hi Four Flights of Fancy Readers I'm
Miranda of m.shanti photo. Andrea asked me to share the
truffles that my husband started making a couple of years ago as a
special treat for me. I have since learned to make them as well and
you'll be surprised how easy it is to make these delicious little
morsels. A great Valentine gift for your loved ones or a fun
Valentine's activity to do with your sweetheart or even the kids. We
whipped these up yesterday and other than the cooling time it only
takes about half an hour to make the truffles and people will be
seriously impressed!
Mark Bittman of the NY times always shares great
simple recipes and tips and his iphone app (How to Cook Everything) is pretty fab too! I'm not
quite as fancy a cook as Ms. Four Flights, I prefer the simple and
yummy recipes and most of Mark's recommendations fit into this
category , these truffles are no exception. To start read this quick
article on the "Heart of Truffles" which describes the
process; basically you make a simple ganache (which means idiot in
French!) and then chill - scoop and roll and you've got your
truffles.

Using good quality ingredients is very important - I think the
Valrhona chocolate is best and although the recipe calls for 60-70%
cocoa I used 71% and they turned out great - you can find most of the
ingredients at Trader Joes or certainly a specialty market near you.
Your ingredient list is quite small:

7/8 cup heavy cream

8 ounces good quality chocolate

Unsweetened cocoa powder as needed
(Valrhona is great if you can find it - I used TJs)

Sweetened Cocoa Powder (for a more
kid-friendly variation)

To start finely chop the chocolate and
put it in a bowl, heat the cream in a saucepan until it steams, pour
the hot cream into the bowl with the chocolate and stir until
chocolate is melted and incorporated into the cream. Chill the mixture
until solid 1-2 hours, chill your melon baller as well. When solid
grab your chilled melon baller and scoop out your truffles - roll into
the cocoa powder and ta-da! I used both the small and large ends of
the melon baller and rolled some in the unsweetened for a more
traditional truffle and some in the sweetened cocoa for the kiddos (I
like these too!). Serve immediately or store wrapped in plastic in the
refrigerator for 4 days. There are many variations you can experiment
with as well - try white or milk chocolate and simply reduce the cream
to 3/4 cup.

I hope you have a lovely Valentine's
celebration. My tip enjoy with some champagne and your special
someone.

Oh and beware of sneaky children who
just can't resist chocolate - she is my daughter after all!